Public Employee Press

Union fights private takeover of dialysis clinics

To join the union’s fight for better heath care, check out the DC 37 website and the union’s Facebook page.

Fighting the threat to patients' safety, DC 37 and a coalition of health-care unions, advocates and patients oppose Big Apple Dialysis' takeover of four renal dialysis clinics at Health and Hospitals Corp. hospitals.

Although the state Public Health and Health Planning Council voted down Big Apple's Certificate of Need application to operate renal dialysis clinics in Harlem, Kings County, Lincoln, and Metropolitan hospitals in February, the board extended Big Apple's application and will vote in May after reviewing new reports on the contractor's competency and quality of care.

"We are asking the state to reject Big Apple Dialysis because its high mortality rates are a direct threat to dialysis patients' lives and run counter to HHC's mission to provide quality health care," said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido. DC 37 stands with the Doctors Council, Service Employees International Union, New York State Nursing Association, HHC Nephrologists, the Organization of Staff Analysts, and patients against the latest privatization plan for HHC's dialysis clinics.

If the four clinics are privatized, the coalition maintains, the contractor should at minimum meet or exceed HHC's performance ratings and staffing levels. HHC's dialysis clinics, run by unionized public employees, perform 18 percent better than average, according to NYSNA. HHC assigns about 44 clients per Social Worker and employs Registered Nurses and support staff in Locals 420, 768, 1549, and 371.

Big Apple would cut RNs and Social Workers, use one non-union technician per 112 patients, which, unions say, would seriously jeopardize the quality of care.

Dr. Jodumutt Ganesh Bhat, co-owner of Big Apple Dialysis, and one of his attorneys are on the PHHPC board. Several other board members also recused themselves from the Feb. 12 vote. Labor leaders called the relationship "too cozy."

Concerned with Big Apple's quality of care, the unions and HHC agreed to an independent review of Big Apple, but to date that has not happened.

Big Apple is a subsidiary of Atlantic Dialysis; both companies have some of the worst records in the country. Some 42 percent of Big Apple facilities have a "worse than expected" mortality rate, according to www.medicare.gov. One in four patients dies in Big Apple's care.

Harlem Hospital's dialysis center's rankings exceed national standards, said Local 768 Shop Steward Nathan Franco. Social Workers and support staff work with RNs to provide a safe and comfortable experience for patients.

"Dialysis takes over your life," Franco said. "Patients receive treatment for three to four hours, three times a week. It is a huge change in their quality of life. With our support they can manage the physical and mental challenges of their disease."

"We are fighting for health care justice for the most fragile New Yorkers undergoing dialysis in our public hospitals," said DC 37's Barbara Edmonds. DC 37 is stepping up its HEAT and social media campaigns to protest HHC's Big Apple contract.

"We are counting on the mayor, the City Council and the Public Advocate to side with patients and keep Big Apple - and any for-profit company with abysmal mortality ratings and a problematic track record - out of HHC," Garrido said.

— Diane S. Williams