Future of Catholic health care seen in long-term, not acute, care

Published: 2005-05-23

NEW YORK (CNS) -- Retired Auxiliary Bishop Joseph M. Sullivan of Brooklyn said May 20 that the future of Catholic health care would likely be in delivering long-term care rather than acute care. Catholic hospitals do not have the resources to compete with the major research hospitals that patients tend to prefer when they develop acute illness, he said. He also said people with acute illness do not usually choose a hospital on the basis of its religious sponsorship. When Cardinal John J. O'Connor of New York developed cancer, he did not go to a Catholic hospital but to the prestigious Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Bishop Sullivan recalled. But he said people often do prefer an institution run by their own religious denomination for long-term care. Bishop Sullivan discussed the problems and possibilities of Catholic health care in an address to the Catholic Healthcare Administrative Personnel program, which was held in New York May 15-20 at St. John's University with joint sponsorship by St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers.

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