Planned SUNY Downstate ‘transformation’: New beginning or downsizing for Brooklyn hospital?

January 24, 2024 Raanan Geberer

SUNY Downstate. Wikimedia photo by Jim Henderson

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EAST FLATBUSH — The State University of New York recently announced that Gov. Kathy Hochul has directed SUNY to come up “transformation plan” for chronically underfunded SUNY Downstate Medical center in East Flatbush that would secure “a sustainable future for Downstate for years to come.”

However, others, specifically unions representing Downstate staffers, have said that such a plan, in reality, would dangerously downsize the hospital and could eventually lead to its closure.

As of now, there is no definite plan with concrete details. However, an official statement from SUNY Chancellor John King said, “We anticipate this plan will include deepening partnerships with other Brooklyn hospitals so Downstate can relocate services” — in other words, relocate them out of the current Downstate campus.

The statement also said that fewer than half of Downstate’s hospital beds are in use on a regular basis and that Downstate’s aging physical plant faces an “infrastructure crisis.”

SUNY Downstate, in East Flatbush, is both a medical school and a hospital (the hospital is formally known as University Hospital). The majority of the hospital’s patients are either on Medicaid, are underinsured or have no health insurance, according to United University Professions, which represents faulty and professional employees there.

A recent article in Politico says the hospital faces an annual $100 million shortfall. A look back at stories published in the Brooklyn Eagle shows that as long ago as 2013, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said Downstate was “hemorrhaging millions of dollars every week” and that its management made “poor financial decisions” that contributed to a “dire” financial condition.

These stories also reveal other problems — for example, the bacteria that causes Legionnaire’s Disease was found in the drinking water in 2019. On the other hand, there were positive stories as well. For example, during the Coronavirus pandemic, Downstate was designated as one of two mental health “hubs” of the SUNY system.

The statement from SUNY was basically upbeat: “The proposal will provide a blueprint for training a world-class, diverse health care workforce; ensuring the communities surrounding Downstate can access the quality, affordable health care they deserve; and tackling the health disparities that so many New Yorkers—from Brooklyn to Buffalo—experience.

Bruce Brisson of Melrose, N.Y. holds a sign supporting the State University of New York’s Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn during a rally at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013, in Albany, N.Y. Hospital workers, labor and community leaders rallied against proposals to privatize management, converting the center to an outpatient facility and staff reductions. AP Photo/Mike Groll

“Governor Hochul is committed to providing the resources to carry out this plan, and SUNY is fully committed to ensuring robust community engagement throughout the process.”

However, a statement from UUP quoted the organization’s president, Frederick E. Kowal, as saying that “SUNY’s plan would essentially relegate the safety-net hospital to a wing in (neighboring) Kings County Hospital Center; other health care services would be farmed out to neighboring hospitals. This will unequivocally result in the closure of SUNY Downstate.”

“If you moved the programs offered at my home campus, SUNY Cobleskill (near Albany), to nearby colleges and turned the campus into a shopping center, do you still have a SUNY Cobleskill? Of course not,” Kowal continued. “And that’s what’s happening at Downstate. If there is no building, there is no hospital.”

The UUP statement also quoted New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person, who said, “Reimagining SUNY Downstate with funding and state support could be transformative for Central Brooklyn. Here is an opportunity to provide greater health care access and more targeted services in neighborhoods that desperately need them. The governor, Legislature and all stakeholders must work in tandem to forge a bright path forward that prioritizes public input.”

Later, Kowal, in an interview with the Eagle, said he had spoken to Chancellor King, who had said that 10 to 20 percent of the jobs at the hospital would be lost. “They would use the footprint (of the hospital) for a lot of vague things — housing, community gardens.” He said that in his opinion, which Downstate as an entity could continue for a while, it was an “absolute certainty” that this would eventually result in a shutdown.

The downsizing of the hospital, he added, would also be difficult for Downstate’s medical students, who now would have “a hard time getting placement.” Nowadays, said Kowal, “Downstate provides slots for its own students.”

Commenting on the hospital’s financial woes, Koval said that while New York State recently received $7.2 billion in Medicaid waiver funds, Hochul decided that $2.2 billion would be going to private nonprofit hospitals, with none going to the state hospitals.

Other Downstate workers are represented by the Public Employees Federation (PEF). In a statement, PEF President Wayne Spence said that Chancellor King “advised me that this ‘transformation’ plan would result in all the PEF members who work at Downstate — about 400 nurses and other health care professionals — working at a new `public’ wing of the Kings County Medical Center across the street.”

Spence said that unions like PEF or members of the surrounding community were not asked for their input. “But PEF will not stand by and allow this important public decision to be made without PEF weighing in. Our members are public servants dedicated to delivering services to their communities, and they deserve better.”

Spence blamed former Gov. Andrew Cuomo for many of the hospital’s woes: “The hospital is connected to the only state medical school educating doctors and nurses of color, yet it was starved of resources. The institution’s current financial woes and infrastructure problems are a direct result of more than a decade of neglect by the previous governor,” he said in his statement.