Q: How serious is Kaleida Health’s financial situation?
The situation is serious – and without critical changes – it will get worse. Kaleida Health lost approximately $35 million from operations in 2001. No health system can continue to sustain such losses without serious consequences. Kaleida Health is no exception. If it continues at this pace, the system could be out of business in a few years – severely impacting the quality of care and the economy throughout the entire Western New York community.

Q: Can The Hunter Group’s recommendations really help?
Yes! By implementing many of The Hunter Group’s recommendations and adopting a bold new strategic plan, Kaleida Health will not only survive – it can thrive. By creating "centers of excellence" at specific hospitals to bring the highest quality of specialized care to the community, the system can achieve financial surpluses that will allow it to continue to invest in technology and professional staff.

Q: How will the individual hospitals in the Kaleida system be affected?
Going forward, Kaleida will strengthen the roles of its individual hospitals, retaining their identities and legacies. However, Kaleida Health is one system. Changes will affect everyone, at all campuses, to some degree.

To be decided are key campus-related recommendations to relocate Children’s Hospital to either Gates Circle or the High Street campus, with the existing Bryant Street campus to be closed. Kaleida will promote centers of excellence by focusing other services or specialties such as Orthopedics/Spine, Cardiovascular, and Neurosciences at individual campuses. The strategy also calls for the shift of Orthopedics from Millard Suburban to another campus in order to free up desperately needed capacity at the Amherst campus.

Q: What internal changes will result?
The plan outlines a wide range of internal improvements that will benefit the entire system, its individual campuses, all Kaleida employees, and most importantly, the patients served. Kaleida will adopt an organizational structure that, under the leadership of a new Chief Executive Officer, will promote more responsibility and authority at each campus. It will also streamline decision-making, reduce labor and supply costs, and result in other system-wide, cost-saving measures.

Q: Will the plan result in layoffs?
Most of the labor savings would be made by eliminating, through attrition, 370 full-time equivalent positions – out of a system-wide total of 8,000 – over a three-year period.

Q: Why did The Hunter Group recommend closing Children’s Hospital?
The Hunter Group does not recommend closing Children’s Hospital. The community will still have The Children’s Hospital of Buffalo. The new campus – at either Gates Circle or at High Street – would feature a child- and family-friendly environment for children’s and women’s services with a separate identity from the hospital’s adult services. In arriving at the conclusion to relocate Children’s Hospital, The Hunter Group carefully examined the region’s demographics and made the difficult determination the area can no longer sustain a free-standing children’s hospital. A recent report by the Buffalo Health Care Task Force reached a similar conclusion.

Q: Won’t the loss of a free-standing Children’s Hospital negatively affect the Western New York region?
Once the plan is implemented, Kaleida Health will have created a new Children’s Hospital that will be sized appropriately for the community. The new Children’s Hospital will provide every bit of the great services the Bryant Street campus has always been known for.

Interestingly, some of the country’s leading adult hospitals, such as Johns Hopkins, the New England Medical Center, the Mayo Clinic, UCLA Medical Center, and University Hospital in Cleveland all contain children’s hospitals on the same campus as adult facilities. In fact, of 179 hospitals in the country devoted to children, only 49 are free-standing, full-service institutions, according to the National Association of Children’s Hospitals.

Q: Haven’t a number of pediatricians already voiced their opposition to relocating Children’s Hospital, with some threatening to leave the area for "better environments to work in?"
Kaleida Health must choose the path that ensures its ability to provide high quality health care to the men, women, and children of Western New York for generations to come, rather than a path that simply maintains tradition and "prestige." In the end, it’s the people and quality of care that make Children’s Hospital so special, not the building. Change is never easy, but in this case, we remain confident that everybody who cares deeply about Children’s Hospital will put the good of the patients and families who depend on them first.

Q: Will the new Children’s Hospital be large and comprehensive enough to serve Western New York’s women and children?
The Children’s Hospital of Buffalo is the crown jewel in the Kaleida system. It has a proud 110-year legacy of service and has been the home of numerous pioneer advances in pediatric research and clinical care. None of this will be lost, simply streamlined to parallel the region’s population and health-care needs.

In addition to relocating to another campus, the new Children’s Hospital will include a new pediatric ambulatory services building connected to the hospital; new obstetric, neonatal intensive care and postpartum units; newborn nurseries; pediatric inpatient facilities in separate patient units with single bed rooms; and a pediatric intensive care unit.

Q: Besides relocating Children’s Hospital, what other options were considered?
The Hunter Group considered numerous other scenarios, all designed to streamline services in line with Western New York’s changing health-care needs and demographics. Other options most seriously considered included closing either the High Street or Gates Circle campus. But the option that would achieve the balance of financial stability and clinical excellence most quickly, enabling regional health care to move forward on a strong, successful basis is the relocation of Children’s Hospital.

Q: What will happen to the campus at 219 Bryant Street?
Kaleida Health will work closely with the City of Buffalo, elected officials, local business groups and neighborhood organizations on a long-range plan to redevelop the Bryant Street campus.

Developer Larry Quinn has been retained by the Kaleida Board of Directors to look at redevelopment and reuse options for the Bryant Street campus in the event pediatric services are moved. Quinn recently completed a 70,000 square foot office building in Buffalo's Theater District and is well regarded in the community for his involvement in the HSBC Arena project. He also has developed condos on the Buffalo waterfront, as well as residential and commercial properties in New York City.

Q: What is the time frame on these changes?
The changes would be implemented in stages, beginning almost immediately, and continuing through the end of 2004. The process would start with the move of adult clinical services such as Cardiovascular, Orthopedics and Neurosciences. The planned time frame for the relocation of Children’s Hospital is 2004.

Q: How can I help?
Although this is expected to be a contentious issue for a while, Kaleida leadership will remain firm on its commitment to follow-through on its "Plan for Investing in Excellence." Your support of Kaleida’s plan is critical to its success. By combining a team effort among its leadership, medical staff, and employees with a strict focus on our mission, Kaleida will be able to persevere in the short term, and thrive in the future.