Seniors Decry Local Clinic’s Closing

Cambridge residents expressed disbelief and dismay at the planned closing of the Oliver Farnum Senior Health Care Center during a community meeting held last night to discuss the Cambridge Health Alliance’s strategic plan.

David H. Bor, the chief of medicine at CHA, said that health center’s small size made it inefficient to operate, especially since new Medicare regulations will not reimburse CHA when patients visit multiple health care providers in a single visit.

“We need to say goodbye to an idea that failed—not everything that we plan is going to work,” Bor said.

The health center is scheduled to close on Dec. 24.

CHA, a Harvard-affiliated network of hospitals and clinics that serves the North Boston area, has been experiencing financial problems since the beginning of the year, and is in the process of laying off 300 employees.

The Alliance had planned the meeting in October to inform Cantabrigians about changes in its service, including the closing of the clinic. Soon afterward, CHA learned that it would be losing $55 million in state funding for the current fiscal year due to state budget cuts and statewide health care reform.

“We could close every health center in Cambridge and not come close to meeting a $55-million reduction in funding,” CHA CEO Dennis D. Keefe said.

With 230 patients, the health center serves less than 5 percent of the all CHA patients. According to a statement issued by CHA, the Alliance has contacted 150 of the Center patients, and all but one of those have begun preparations to receive care at other CHA clinics.

Nonetheless, residents passionately opposed the way the Alliance conducted last night’s meeting and its decision to close the health center.

“There’s a sort of unreal quality to the fact that I’m up here trying to convince a bunch of people that they shouldn’t close a senior center,” said Robert Carey, a patient at the Center.

Twice, residents interrupted other speakers to voice their opinions. Some sang a parody of the song “She’ll be Coming ’Round the Mountain” that accused the meeting’s organizers of deliberately scheduling the meeting at an inconvenient place and time to decrease senior turnout.

Others recalled that 30 years ago, the community had lobbied to persuade the City Council and the Cambridge Hospital to bring neighborhood clinics like the Farnum Center to the city.

“You can’t forget how [CHA] was formed, that people fought for you,” resident Elaine M. DeRosa said.

Keefe said that CHA has always been and remains committed to serving low-income patients, noting that 85 percent of the network’s revenue comes from state and federal health care programs.

But he added, “We have had to make difficult choices, decisions, and we continue to have to do so.”

Several residents, along with Keefe and City Councilor Sam Seidel, said they hoped that health care would be reformed nationwide under President-elect Barack Obama, possibly preventing CHA from needing to reduce its services.

But Keefe cautioned that even if such a reform came, it would not take effect for years.

—Staff writer Sarah J. Howland can be reached at showland@fas.harvard.edu.