Investors may take over troubled hospital

A cash-strapped Far Rockaway hospital put on the chopping block last month and scheduled to close in September received financial CPR Tuesday when two investors stepped forward to take it over.

The investors have been meeting with the 100-year-old Peninsula Hospital Center's board of directors and state Health Department officials, who have been reviewing their finances for several weeks. The investors have not been identified publicly.

The investors have until Friday to present a financial plan, said Jeffrey Gordon, spokesman for the state Health Department. The plan must show that the investors have the money to operate the hospital and provide the patient care they need, said Gordon.

"We will expedite the review of that plan and work with them to ensure that they have the ability to operate the hospital and protect the health of its patients," Gordon said.

As a result, the state has stopped the clock that had been ticking toward a shutdown since last month, when the hospital's management company, Medisys Health Network, which also operates Jamaica Hospital in Queens, filed papers to close the aging facility.

Medisys also said Tuesday that it will stop managing the hospital as of 5 p.m. Monday. "We will withdraw as the sole corporate sponsor of Peninsula Hospital Center and its affiliated nursing home," said Michael Hinck, director of public affairs.

The Medisys withdrawal left a clear opening for investors to step in, said Louis Caucig, a member of the hospital's board of directors who has been meeting with the investors.

"The investors are in all the way," said Caucig. "The board of directors are satisfied that the investors have the financials. We're not dead yet."