ALBANY — Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights) has been working to change the way the state closes hospitals since 2015.
“It’s outrageous that hospitals close with virtually no public notice, engagement, or state oversight,” Simon said. “The public ought to know before – not after – their local hospital is shuttered.”
On April 2, her bill to reform hospital closures passed the New York Assembly 118-29 with bipartisan support. The legislation is named the Local Input in Community Healthcare (LICH) Act after the tumultuous closure and sale of Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill by SUNY Downstate in 2014.
Community members, officials and health care workers fought for two years to stop the state from selling the 156-year-old hospital to developer Fortis Property Group. The measure is meant to ensure that what happened at LICH won’t play out at other hospitals across New York.
The LICH Act requires public notice and public engagement when a hospital seeks to either close entirely or close a unit that provides emergency, maternity, mental health, or substance use care. The bill would also strengthen state review of the proposed closings.
“I have passed the bill in the Assembly a few times before, but it hasn’t gotten traction in the Senate. I’m thrilled that the Senate Health Committee Chair, Sen. Gustavo Rivera, has now taken up the bill in the Senate. We made some amendments, and I’m tentatively hopeful that this will enable us to pass the bill in the other house,” Simon said in a statement.
Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon. Photo: Mary Frost, Brooklyn Eagle
Fulfilling a promise
The LICH Act was the first bill to be introduced by Simon in 2015, fulfilling a promise made during her election campaign for the 52nd Assembly District. She introduced it in response to what she called at that time the “utter lack” of consideration of community health needs or input in the state’s decision to close the historic hospital.
Since the closure of LICH by SUNY a decade ago, more than 40 hospitals have closed across New York and 10 hospitals have closed maternity services, she said. “We are seeing history repeat itself now with the closure or possible closures at SUNY Downstate, Beth Israel, and the Burdett Birth Center in upstate NY, and St. Catherine of Siena Hospital on Long Island.”
(St. Catherine of Siena Hospital on Long Island has proposed closing its maternity unit — not the full complex.)
SUNY Downstate. Wikimedia photo by Jim Henderson
History repeats with SUNY Downstate
The state announced in January that it plans to drastically reduce health care at SUNY Downstate due to a $100 million deficit and a deteriorating building.
Shuttering SUNY Downstate Hospital would have “devastating health impacts” on systemically-underserved Central Brooklyn residents, Simon said. “I’ve joined my colleagues in Central Brooklyn and Sen. Myrie to urge the state to change course on the closure plan.”
SUNY admitted in its RFP paperwork when selling LICH in 2014 that, after acquiring the hospital, Downstate “did not have the internal resources to conduct billing and collection activities related to the LICH accounts receivable.” Billing companies estimated at that time that SUNY’s financial mismanagement cost LICH more than $100 million.
State Sen. Kevin Parker (East Flatbush, Midwood) on Wednesday called for a state audit of SUNY Downstate Hospital’s finances.
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