Nathan Littauer plans $3.1M ER renovation; fed funding possible

By Barbara Pinckney, special for for the Business Review (Albany)

First published in print Friday, May 29, 2009

Nathan Littauer Hospital is moving forward with plans to upgrade and expand its 26-year-old emergency department—possibly with federal help. The Gloversville hospital filed a certificate of need application with the state Health Department earlier this month seeking approval for the $3.1 million plan.

At about the same time, U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko and Sen. Charles Schumer introduced appropriations bills in their respective houses seeking $1 million to help finance the project. Laurence Kelly, CEO of Nathan Littauer, said the project does not hinge on the federal funding—the hospital recently completed a $4 million capital campaign—but “it would be nice.”

The plan calls for the ER to be renovated and enlarged, from 5,000 square feet to about 10,000 square feet. Kelly said the department sees about 25,000 people a year, and was built in 1983 “for probably half that.” The department has 13 patient rooms. This will be increased to 17, but some of the rooms will be large enough to accommodate two patients if necessary. Kelly said this should allow all patients to move to a room immediately after being triaged.

The patient rooms will be equipped with televisions to ease the wait. The project also includes a new nurses’ station with four times the space as the current, “really congested,” station. The computer system already has been upgraded and medical records are electronic.

Nathan Littauer, which has about $50 million in assets, had net income of about $2.1 million on revenue of $78 million in 2008. That represents an operating margin of 2.8 percent.