City Councilor Ed Flynn is putting the Boston Planning & Development Agency on blast for recommending approval of a for-profit urgent care clinic that would have been located a block away from the nonprofit South Boston Community Health Center.
A day after the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal approved American Family Care’s request to withdraw its application, Flynn slammed the BPDA for showing “poor judgment and ruthless disregard” by favoring the project.
“I am going to be as polite as I can, but I think everyone knows here and in this city that if you come after my constituents, well then be prepared for battle,” Flynn said at the end of Wednesday’s City Council meeting.
“We call ourselves the most progressive city in the city,” he continued, “and after all we’ve heard for 15 years about the profit motive in health care, the BPDA was ready to recommend and stick the largest for-profit urgent care company in the country a block away from a nonprofit health center. Incredibly shortsighted. It would have put the public health of the town at risk in the long term.”
In a memo to the city’s Zoning Board of Appeal last week, the BPDA recommended approval of the urgent care clinic because the agency thought its proposed location, 457-469A West Broadway, would have been conducive to meeting the community’s needs.
The clinic would have been placed in a “pre-existing but untenanted first floor space,” the BPDA highlighted.
“This proposed location is particularly well-sited for an urgent care clinic,” the memo stated, “as it is an approximate 2-minute walk from the South Boston Community Health Center and an approximate 10-minute walk from multiple nearby dental establishments, therefore reinforcing this (corridor) as an important destination servicing South Boston residents’ health needs.”
But Flynn disagreed, saying, “This is not a healthcare desert and there is not a community need for this proposal.”
Attorney Dennis A. Quilty, representing American Family Care, said the company formally withdrew from the project in a letter last Thursday to ZBA Chairwoman Sherry Dong. Quilty did not state the specifics behind the company backing out.
American Family Care operates more than 200 facilities across 26 states, treating nearly 3 million patients a year, according to its company website. It looks to have more than 500 clinics nationwide in the next five years.
The company says it is different from other urgent care clinics because it provides “digital X-rays, state-of-the-art diagnostic procedures, electronic medical record keeping,” among other services.
The BPDA did not immediately respond to a Herald request for comment.
City Councilor Erin Murphy and state Sen. Nick Collins, also representing Southie, joined Flynn in opposing the proposed clinic due to the potential negative financial impacts it could’ve had on South Boston Community Health Center.
“The SBCHC has been an invaluable partner with the people of South Boston for 50 years and services 70,000 patients annually,” Flynn said Wednesday, “while the largest for-profit urgent care company in the country offers a fraction of the services and can pack up and leave at any time if they’re unhappy with their profit margin. This was not a close call. The BPDA showed poor judgment and ruthless disregard for the welfare of the people of South Boston.”
The City Council last week approved Flynn’s order to hold a hearing on how for-profit urgent care clinics impact nonprofit health centers.
After Flynn’s remarks, Council President Ruthzee Louijeune said she’d like to bring back announcements at the end of council meetings, but discussing larger issues should be reserved for hearings.
“I know that these issues are important,” Louijeune said. “I want to make sure that we are also keeping announcements to announcements – the birthdays, the events. That’s traditionally what’s happened.”