Mount Sinai South Nassau proceeds with upgrades after county OKs $90M in bonds

Mount Sinai South Nassau will receive $90 million in tax-exempt financing to help upgrade its Oceanside hospital and refinance existing debt after a unanimous vote by Nassau County officials.

The Nassau County Local Economic Assistance Corporation approved the bond financing at its meeting Thursday.

The projects funded by the debt will be “a tremendous benefit to the patients that they serve, as well as to their staff and employees,” said Richard Kessel, chairman of the corporation, which assists hospitals, schools and other nonprofits. “Anytime you can help a major medical institution expand its services, that means that more people are going to get assistance and help, and more lives are going to be saved.”

The economic assistance includes $37 million in new debt to help fund improvements at the 455-bed hospital.

The work includes the renovation of two medical/surgical units that now have 76 beds in shared rooms. The upgraded units will have 46 private rooms and upgraded ventilation systems. Each private room can be converted into a “negative pressure” room that does not allow germs to escape into other rooms or hallways if the patient has a contagious illness. In addition, each private room can be converted to a double room if needed.

South Nassau also will add new neurosurgical equipment that allows surgeons to use three-dimensional imaging when they treat patients with strokes and other disorders. In addition, the hospital’s two cardiac catheterization labs will get renovations and new equipment.

The construction project is expected to employ 25 to 30 full-time workers while it is underway, according to the application. The hospital intends to use “as many Nassau County vendors and construction companies as possible,” it stated in its application.

The work is expected to be complete within three years, the hospital said in its application.

In addition to the new debt, the corporation also unanimously agreed to refinance $53 million in existing debt. The old debt carried an interest rate of about 5%, said John Pohlman, the hospital’s senior vice president of finance and chief financial officer. The interest rate on the new debt will be 2.62%, he said. The lower rate means the hospital’s yearly debt payments will fall by about $1 million despite the additional borrowing to fund the upgrades, he said.

The hospital is in the midst of a $400 million capital construction program. The work includes a four-story addition that will double the size of the Oceanside hospital’s emergency department and add a 40-bed critical care unit and nine new operating suites.

By Maura McDermott

maura.mcdermott@newsday.commauramcdermott

Maura McDermott is a reporter on the investigations desk. Since starting at Newsday in 2012, she has also covered real estate and the business of health care.