Lower cost for nursing home records system

Activating a long-delayed digital records system at Suffolk's John J. Foley Skilled Nursing facility may be far cheaper than first thought.

County officials said Wednesday that training the Yaphank nursing home staff on the system -- if done mostly in-house -- can cost less than $15,000. Earlier this year, they said it would take $70,000 for a medical records software company to conduct a three-week training.

"It'll help with billing, it'll improve our revenue intake, and maybe, we can run the place toward the black," said Legis. Kate Browning (WF-Shirley).

The savings would come from using online seminars to train a team of county employees, and then having those employees train nursing home staff. The private company would only be needed in the final days of training, officials said.

At a January meeting of Foley's oversight commission, lawmakers learned the electronic medical records system had not been activated upon its largely grant-funded installation in 2010. Former County Executive Steve Levy, who supported closing the nursing home because it lost money, said he did not want to pay for training on a system that would ultimately benefit a private owner.

A $36-million sale of Foley pushed by Levy fell through in early 2011, and lawmakers did not act upon his subsequent requests for bids to run the home.

Lawmakers who support keeping the 264-bed facility open say utilizing electronic medical records would have quickly made the county money by catching more patient care eligible for Medicaid reimbursement.

"Would it be revenue positive for us?" Legis. John M. Kennedy Jr. (R-Nesconset) asked at Wednesday's oversight commission meeting.

"Within one year, easy," replied Foley administrator Kevin Carey.

Also at the meeting, Kennedy and Browning said they'd like to soon meet with County Executive Steve Bellone to discuss the broader future of the nursing home. Its staff is among 660 county positions funded only through June, as Suffolk grapples with a budget hole estimated to be more than $100 million.

Late last year, Brookhaven Memorial Hospital responded to the legislature's request for proposals to create a public-private partnership to run Foley. But the bid was recently deemed insufficient, lawmakers said.

"The county executive has said he's committed to the facility, and we appreciate that," Kennedy said. "But we need to sit with him quickly. We want to see that space best utilized."