Hospitals weigh altering schedule for convention

As Boston hospitals confront the prospect of a web of closed highways during the Democratic National Convention, some patient appointments are being moved to an earlier hour to avoid late-afternoon bottlenecks and at least one hospital is shifting patient visits to satellite clinics outside the city.

So far, none of the major teaching hospitals has adopted significant changes to work shifts or canceled medical appointments during the four days in late July when Democrats will descend on the FleetCenter. But a day after details of road closings emerged, discussions intensified at hospitals yesterday about how to get medical staff back and forth to work and whether patient visits and clinic hours should be altered.

The city's hospitals employ the equivalent of 44,000 full-time workers, and the biggest medical centers treat thousands of patients each day. So, unlike other businesses that may choose to heed the call from authorities to let employees take vacations or work from home, hospitals intend to keep treating patients and performing operations. Hospitals also have to be prepared in the event of a terrorist attack or other health crisis associated with the convention.

"Somebody who needs to have their chemotherapy started that week, that's going to happen," said Betsy Stengel, executive director of the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals, an umbrella group. "If Mrs. Jones needs to come in because she has a regular appointment with her kidney specialist, her kidney specialist will be there."

No hospital is likely to be affected by the convention more than Massachusetts General, less than a quarter mile from the convention site and adjacent to Storrow Drive, where eastbound lanes will close from 4 p.m. to midnight during the event. The city's largest hospital -- which sees 50,000 to 70,000 patients, visitors, and staff each day -- is bracing for disruptions ranging from frustrated patients looking for an alternate route to hundreds of employees forced to park off-site.

"I'm telling people that this is 96 hours, and we can get through this," said Bonnie Michelman, director of police, security, and outside services at Mass. General. "We're looking at this as a big, bad snowstorm."

Michelman said the hospital has already asked doctors and clinics to schedule appointments earlier "so we can get patients home by the middle of the afternoon."

Services that aren't essential, such as educational seminars, have been rescheduled, she said, and the hospital has set up a website to keep employees and patients informed about convention plans.

Michelman stressed that ambulances will be able to reach the hospital even when roads are closed, and Rich Serino, the chief of Boston's emergency medical service, said that emergency vehicles will gain access to those closed routes by radioing ahead.

To help patients planning more routine visits at Mass. General, Michelman said maps will be distributed showing alternate routes. In addition, she said the hospital will turn over an employee parking lot near the FleetCenter to the convention from July 4 to Aug. 9, requiring about 700 employees to park off-site.

Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, adjacent to Mass. General, is also planning to schedule patient visits earlier in the day, an option being considered by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. At Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, authorities have made no decisions about elective surgery schedules, but "we're reviewing our options," hospital spokesman Jerry Berger said.

Appointment schedulers at Children's Hospital Boston are working with some families to shift office visits to clinics in Lexington and Peabody or to weeks before and after the convention. "We are looking to the extent possible at scheduling ambulatory visits and follow-up procedures at our satellite clinics," Children's spokeswoman Susan Craig said.

Hospital administrators acknowledge that some patients, leery of traffic jams may cancel appointments during the convention or reschedule them. No estimates of possible financial losses citywide have been generated, Stengel said, but authorities at some hospitals said they have begun looking at the economic consequences.

Late July typically is comparatively slow for in-patient hospital stays, said Paul Wingle, spokesman for the Massachusetts Hospital Association.

Stephen Smith can be reached at stsmith@globe.com.