By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Although both town and Massena Memorial Hospital officials say MMH will remain open, it may look a little different in the coming months or years.

“Things are going to continue. It may look a little different,” MMH CEO Robert Wolleben said.

His comment came on the heels of a presentation by Newpoint Healthcare Consulting. They were hired by the Town Council to analyze MMH in light of a dire financial situation

They recommended the board to pursue affiliations with other facilities and consider reorganizing to get better reimbursements from the government.

Newpoint consultant Joe Lupica told the board that MMH qualifies for critical access designation.

This means that they would have to limit to 25 beds maximum with stays of no longer than four days. He showed the board a table that says making the change would put between $3 million and $5 million more in MMH coffers annually. This is because the federal government reimburses Medicare and Medicaid at 100 percent for critical access facilities.

Lupica noted that MMH’s length of stay averages 4.2 days.

An audience member said that is mainly due to social factors.

“They’re patients with no place to go,” the person said.

“They came from somewhere, they should go back to somewhere,” Wolleben said, acknowledging that smaller communities tend to lack support networks for vulnerable demographics.

However, Councilman John Macaulay noted that the average stay length is going down.

“February was 3.5 (days),” he said. “In the last few weeks, we’ve already done things to turn that around.”

Furthermore, Lupica said the Affordable Care Act could help MMH as a critical access facility because more people will be covered by exchange insurance.

He said right now, 5 percent of MMH patients are not covered.

MMH CFO James Smith said that number will soon “rise exponentially.”

Lupica stressed that critical access is only one of many options for keeping MMH afloat.

Lupica believes that changes Wolleben is making will put MMH in a position to negotiate mutually favorable terms to affiliate with other facilities.

“I have a lot of faith in your new leadership,” he said to applause from the 50 or so people in attendance, many of whom were hospital employees.

In the end, he recommended MMH administration immediately start formulating a strategy to do so. Lupica also said the town should absolutely not sell the hospital.

Wolleben said privatization is not off the table, but isn’t something he is working toward.

“Privatization should never be off the table totally. It’s not the focus of my effort this or next year,” he said, adding that he is looking at all options. “Our position is … you can’t guarantee anything.”