Pain of spreading health cuts may be worse

Southside Hospital would have to stop providing primary care at the Brentwood Family Health Center if Suffolk County cuts $2 million in clinic funding, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday.

The proposed cut follows Suffolk legislators' decision last week to spread around $13 million in reductions to spare the Elsie Owens Health Center in Coram and the Dolan Family Health Center in Huntington from taking the brunt of the cuts.

Presiding Officer William Lindsay (D-Holbrook) said the legislature might have to revisit its approach in light of what effect the cuts would have on other health centers -- a move that could again put the Coram and Dolan clinics at risk for deep cuts. Coram officials had said those clinics would have to close if they were to receive the $4.6 million in cuts initially proposed by County Executive Steve Levy.

"We have bad choices and worse choices," Lindsay said.

Legis. Ricardo Montano (D-Brentwood), who supported spreading the cuts, said legislators should revisit the strategy if other health centers like the Brentwood clinic might be devastated.

He likened the possibility of having to decide which health clinic to close to the movie "Good Son." In it, a woman has to decide which one of two boys to let fall from a cliff.

Lawmakers had hoped they'd find a way to deal with the loss of state aid without dire consequences for any one clinic. But since last week's decision, the county calculated what spreading the burden would mean for clinics that would have largely escaped any cuts.

Terry Lynam, spokesman for the North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, said Southside Hospital contracts with the county to run the clinic. Officials at the Bay Shore hospital, which is part of the health system, expect to recommend the county only offer prenatal and high-risk gynecological services.

Legislators also had hoped the state would mitigate the cuts by agreeing to increase state funding. The county and the state health department are trying to resolve a dispute over the health care reimbursements the county receives. County budget director Connie Corso, though, said the county has already factored in a reasonable amount of money it could get from the state.

Nevertheless, Health Committee chairwoman Legis. Kate M. Browning (WF-Shirley) and Louis D'Amaro (D-North Babylon), a sponsor of the measure to spread the cuts, said the Legislature should wait for talks with the state to conclude before reconsidering how the cuts should be doled out.

Clinton Weaver, spokesman for Stony Brook University Hospital, which runs the Coram clinic, declined to comment. Terence Smith, Dolan clinic administrator, said it was unfair to single out the two clinics for large cuts. "I strongly feel people who are uninsured in Huntington are just as deserving for funding as people in any other town," Smith said.