Simon’s LICH Act to reform hospital closures passes in Assembly
Bill named after tumultuous closure of Long Island College Hospital
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.