Espadas say they’re ready to hand over health clinics

The troubled Soundview Healthcare Network is in negotiations with three Bronx-based health organizations to take over control of the facility from the Espada family.

Soundview spokeswoman Rachel Fasciani confirmed that Urban Health Plan, a community health center based in Hunts Point, Mott Haven and Morrisania, was one of three organizations in talks with Soundview to take over the health network founded by recently convicted state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr.

Ms. Fasciani said a new provider and CEO would be the best thing for Soundview patients.

“The deciding factor is who can get it done the fastest. We just want to get these patients taken care of,” she said.

The health care network, which operates two facilities in the Bronx and serves an estimated 20,000 patients a year, is not operating at full capacity. Only doctors with their own medical malpractice insurance continue to see patients because the center stopped paying its own insurance weeks ago. 

Soundview voluntarily closed its doors in early May after the state Department of Health received a complaint on May 1, saying that Soundview lacked adequate supplies and insurance. The DOH immediately began conducting a survey to determine the complaint’s accuracy, according to DOH spokesman Peter Constantakes.

On May 18, the DOH sent Soundview a letter asking it to begin a closeout plan and to turn over its operating certificate.

That same day, Alejandro Espada, senior vice president of Soundview and son of state Sen. Pedro Espada, held a press conference in front of the Soundview’s main location on White Plains Road.

He said the DOH had been trying “to link Senator Espada’s trial to the fate of this clinic.”

But if a new provider swoops in to take over Soundview operations, Ms. Fasciani said Alejandro Espada, currently the acting CEO, would walk away. 

Last summer, the Office of the Medicaid Inspector General announced its intention to stop Medicaid funding to Soundview. 

Keywords