>Valley Renewal: We were very dismayed with how Valley management handled this whole process

My family has been here a long time and has been very supportive of Valley in the past, through many expansions.

However, we did not support this plan and have said so many times.

We were also very dismayed with how Valley mgmt handled this whole process, to say the least.

For a long time Valley represented a high standard of being both a good community resource as well as a good citizen.

It’s not that way now. The way Valley management handled all this process proves that. So does how they handled everything regarding Pascack re-opening, and so does all the money and effort they spend trying to attract patients from areas very far away from this one.

Also, they have stressed the need for all single patient rooms. And sure, I agree with that – in concept- for many reasons.

But there are some downsides to that too. Apparently ONLY if you build NEW buildings is this a requirement. If you renovate (or “renew”) it is NOT. And most hospitals in NJ do not have ONLY private rooms.

Why is this impt? Well, my small business has been looking at new insurance plans and we have many proposals for diff plans and carriers.

ALL of them state that they will pay ONLY for semi-private rooms. That means if only private rooms can be had, the patient is responsible for the upcharge, which can be sizable.

At first I thought, “can’t be right”, but looking around online, it DOES seem to be right.

Also pretty sure Medicare (and thus most wraparound M/care coverage) works the same way – only pays for semi private.

I’m no expert on this though– if someone here knows more, please share with the rest of us.

If this is how it works, then we get all the “side effects” and costs of hosting Valley, but if we need to use Valley as a patient, even with good insurance, we would have to pay extra because of that private room upcharge.

Wow. That’s really being a community resource, huh?

Again, pls weigh in if you know more – I very much hope this is NOT how it works, but from what I’ve read, seems to be.

Also checked the NJ Direct Employee benefit handbook at link below and it says same thing re semi-private versus private. Muni employees, teachers, etc are apparently covered by this.

https://www.state.nj.us/treasury/pensions/epbam/exhibits/handbook/njdirectbk.pdf

The recent numbers I saw for such upcharges (from semi to private) were high. Those won’t be going down either.

Yet if Valley renovates without building all new, then there is no such “mandate” for private rooms. Seems to shed a little more light on what is perhaps the real agenda in all this.

In any case, I too have a much different opinion of Valley’s management now than our family used to. Rather than being upfront and engaging and involving the community so all could really work together to find a solution that everyone could live with, they handled this much differently, and likely will continue to do so.

And all the while they fought Pascack re-opening bitterly.

They also expect Ridgewood to pay all the costs of hosting “renewed” Valley — and yet right now way less than 10% of Valley’s patients come from Ridgewood – and they are actively marketing Valley as far away as New England and PA.

If they build anything like this plan, it looks like they would have a facility that only the very wealthy can use – since insurance won’t pay for private rooms – unless you can fight the carrier and truly demonstrate medical necessity.

If you’ve ever had a claim denied with a health insurer, you know real well how difficult it is to get such a decision reversed.

Thanks a lot Valley mgmt. Shouldn’t you want to modernize in a way that lets you market to the largest possible share of those in THIS area – in ways that those customers’ insurance will cover?