ALBANY COUNTY — St. Peter’s Hospital Dental Center in Albany will be closing on June 30, ending dental care for many low-income patients who otherwise may not be able to afford services. 

The choice to close “was a difficult decision,” a St. Peter’s spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Enterprise. “Despite years of optimization and improvement efforts, however, the center continued to face annual financial losses, as Medicaid reimbursement rates for these services are significantly lower than the cost to provide them.”

St. Peter’s is currently working out a plan with the Whitney Young Health Center, which also runs a low-income dental clinic in the city, to absorb the displaced patients. St. Peter’s did not immediately respond to an inquiry about how many patients were being seen by its clinic. 

The spokesperson said that St. Peter’s is also looking at “additional partnerships” to manage the fallout. 

Whitney Young’s Chief Development Officer, Christina Rujotte, told The Enterprise this week that “no final plans have been made,” so it’s unknown at this point how many patients or providers the center will be able to take in.

“These patients, all of our patients, deserve and need that [accessible care],” Rujotte said. “We’re trying to minimize that closure by having a seamless transition — as seamless as it can be and as smooth as it can be.”

She said that the Whitney Young dental clinic served more than 6,000 patients last year, and was founded 52 years ago, when the larger organization came into existence as an equitable healthcare provider. 

“As soon as those plans are in place, we will make sure the communication with patients happens in an efficient and effective way to make sure they can continue their care at a different provider,” Rujotte said. 

Christopher Philippo told The Enterprise last month that his appointment at St. Peter’s was canceled after his provider resigned over the planned closure. 

He said at that time that options for an immediate replacement were limited, with the local alternatives not accepting new patients for at least two months, if ever. 

Philippo also shared a letter he had received from St. Peter’s in March notifying him of the closure, which had included a reminder about the importance of dental care. 

“Although we can longer provide these services to you and your family, it has been St. Peter’s honor and privilege to do so for the last 50 years,” the letter read. “We hope to be your provider of choice for you and your loved one’s other health care needs in the years ahead.”

Philippo said this week that the situation was “definitely frustrating.”

Background

St. Peter’s Health Partners is a member of the not-for-profit Catholic health system Trinity Health, and the largest private employer in the Capital Region with 12,500 workers across seven counties, according to health industry publication PracticeLink. It has an annual budget of $1.1 billion, the publication says. 

In 2016, St. Peter’s went head-to-head with Capital District Physicians Health Plan over reimbursement rates, with St. Peter’s requesting a higher rate and CDPHP arguing that the request was only being made because of St. Peter’s then-recent partnering with Trinity Health, The Enterprise reported at the time. 

They reached an unspecified contract agreement within a month. 

That same year, St. Peter’s came under fire by Enterprise readers after the paper reported on the sudden dismissal of Dr. Hedy Migden. 

She told The Enterprise that she was fired with 30 days’ notice, even though she had more than seven years left on a 10-year contract. 

St. Peter’s said she was fired for what it believed was a justified reason, but declined to specify what, exactly, it was. Migden’s lawyer said that there were “absolutely no allegations of inappropriate patient care or financial impropriety.”

A former long-time employee of St. Peter’s — registered nurse and case manager Joyce Martin — told The Enterprise at the time that Migden was highly respected, and that she felt that St. Peter’s had lost its focus on community after it had joined Trinity Health. 

A St. Peter’s spokesman denied that Migden’s firing was related to matters of efficiency or cost-effectiveness. 

Mike Connelly, of Guilderland, told The Enterprise last month that his physician, Dr. Grahame Fitz, was suddenly dismissed, despite having been recognized as a top physician at St. Peter’s by Hudson Valley Magazine just months before.

“I think the public needs to know about St. Peter’s Health Partners conduct in this …. leaving who knows how many of their patients with their treatment disrupted and maybe without a physician,” Connelly wrote in an email to The Enterprise.

He sent a copy of the letter he had received in March from a St. Peter’s practice manager “to inform you of the departure of Grahame Fritz, M.D.,” which gave no reason for his departure but said appointments would be rescheduled with “one of our other providers.”

The letter also said, “We understand that your relationship with your provider is an important one and remain committed to ensuring that you receive the highest quality of health care.”

St. Peter’s public relations manager Robert Webster confirmed for The Enterprise that Dr. Fitz no longer works for the system, but declined to comment further. Dr. Fitz also declined to comment, as did his current employer, Community Care Physicians. 

Connelly told The Enterprise in an email that he and his wife will continue to see Dr. Fitz, but that the choice by St. Peter's decision to terminate him was not without its headaches. 

“We will both be inconvenienced by the transfer as his offices were on Western Ave. across from UAlbany and now we have to go to Clifton Park from our Guilderland home, “ Connelly said. “Worth the trip though.”