HHC Billions in Debt 600 lay offs

City hospitals president plans hundreds of worker terminations (NYP) The city’s municipal-hospitals will lay off as many as 600 employees in coming months to help close a deficit estimated at $1.1 billion next year, its leader said Tuesday. “I would move on them very quickly,” interim NYC Health + Hospitals President Stanley Brezenoff said after testifying before the City Council. “My aim is now to get the savings immediately in the next fiscal year.” * Stanley Brezenoff, interim president and CEO of New York City Health + Hospitals, now says the system will fire between 200 and 600 people in the coming months, despite a previous pledge by de Blasio that there would be no layoffs, the Daily News reports.

Closing Hospitals,HHC, LICH

Closing More Brooklyn Hospitals? As LICH Under A Bid Rigging Federal Investigation is Being Made Into Luxury Housing

What About Health and Hospital Corp That is $8 Billion in Debt? How Will the Changes in Obama Care Effect the City Hospitals? Why the Media Black Out on These Issues?

State officialslooking to merge three ailing Brooklyn hospitals in healthcare overhaul (NYDN) State officials are preparing to move ahead with long-awaited efforts to overhaul the healthcare network in central and eastern Brooklyn, including the likely merger of at least three money-losing hospitals into a single care-providing entity for the region. Cuomo and state lawmakers have been working for years to address the problem of Brooklyn's financially ailing heath care system, which serves a large pool of poor and uninsured patients. They have set aside $700 million in capital funds to pay for the effort. The moves follow the release in November of a report, commissioned by the state Health Department, that called for the merger of four Brooklyn hospitals - Brookdale University Hospital and Medical Center, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Interfaith Medical Center and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center - into a single system. The four hospitals are projected to lose nearly $2 billion over the next five years. Cuomo administration officials stressed no final decisions have been made concerning the disposition of the hospitals but noted that three - Kingsbrook, Interfaith and Brookdale - announced plans in December to band together into single entity.

Closing Hospitals,HHC, LICH

NYC Mayor De Blasio Under Federal Investigation Over Sale of Hospital

Bill de Blasio / AP

BY: Jack Heretik
July 26, 2016 1:19 pm
Federal authorities are investigating New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio for his involvement in the sale of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn.
U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is leading the investigation, the New York Daily News reports. It is unclear for what aspect of the sale de Blasio is being investigated. Bharara has subpoenaed all communications between New York City Hall and the hospital’s previous owner, the State University of New York.
Few specifics are known about the investigation, but it is clear that de Blasio is the main target of the investigation, according to the Daily News.

One source close to SUNY confirmed the subpoena and said “the clear target seems to be de Blasio.” But the specifics of what Bharara is looking into were unclear.
The subpoena specifically seeks emails and other communication from de Blasio and top aides Tony Shorris, Emma Wolfe, Dominic Williams, Avi Fink and Henry Berger, the two sources said.
It also seeks all communication regarding the hospital dating to 2013 between SUNY and de Blasio’s campaign and his fundraiser Ross Offinger, as well as various groups tied to the mayor such as the Campaign For One New York, UPKNYC, and United for Affordable NYC, the sources said.
The subpoena demands emails and other communication between SUNY and de Blasio from 2013, when he was the city’s public advocate, they said.

State-run Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn was losing money, and SUNY wanted to sell it to private developers. De Blasio tried and failed to keep the site open to provide health care services, and the hospital was eventually acquired by a private development group. De Blasio’s Campaign for One New York campaign sent a letter in support of the sale.

Brezenoff Who Helped Closed Down LICH and Other Media Facilities Takes Over HHC In $2 Billion Debt

We Knew That the Corruption Dump Was Coming On on the Head of HHC Departing hospitals chief took 52 out-of-state trips in brief tenure (NYP)

City hospital head axed amid department’s financial struggles (NYP) The head of the city’s ailing municipal-hospital system will step down later this month, officials announced suddenly on Monday. NYC Health + Hospitals President Ramanathan Raju’s departure comes five months after The Post reported that three other top executives were leaving the agency as the city struggles to rein in massive budget shortfalls in the network of 11 hospitals. Over the past several months, at least nine top hospital officials have left or announced their departures. Raju said Monday he told City Hall in September he was planning to resign, even though a health-care source said he’d been talking about jumping ship since the spring. In a message to colleagues, Raju wrote, “I step down feeling certain that the work we have accomplished over the last two and a half years puts us on solid ground to build a stronger, more efficient and financially sustainable public health care system.” The municipal network is facing a projected cash shortfall of $1.8 billion over the next four years, according to city’s Independent Budget Office. Mayor de Blasio appointed Raju to head the network on Jan. 21, 2014. Stanley Brezenoff, who ran the agency during the 1980s, will take its helm again until a permanent replacement is hired. Brezenoff served as CEO of Continuum Health Partners, a nonprofit that operates Beth Israel Medical Center and the former St. Luke’s and Roosevelt hospitals. Criticisms that Raju bungled the rollout of a $1.4 billion medical record-keeping system have dogged him for months, with one well-placed source estimating the network has burned through at least 50 percent of the rollout budget on only two hospitals — Queens and Elmhurst. The source said Monday that the botched rollout is a “significant” factor in Raju’s departure.

Michael Benjamin ‏@SquarePegDem Hope @unitedNYblogs head didn't explode learning @BilldeBlasio named ol' Koch hand & fmr #LICH head Stan Brezenoff to lead @NYCHealthSystem

Brezenoff the Mayor's Labor Advisor, Continuum Health Partners Gets Rid of LICH Hospital With Not Blame or Finger Prints

Hamill: Long Island College Hospital merged to death - NY Daily News(2013) SUNY Downstate Medical Center deal with LICH absorbed $300 million in LICH red ink run up by a hospital consortium called Continuum Health Partners. Continuum is run by a ruthless powerbroker named Stanley Brezenoff whose nickname at LICH is Darth Vader. Brezenoff is a quintessential member of what muckraker Jack Newfield called The Permanent Government of New York. This professional politico was appointed by Mayor Ed Koch to run the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp., the feudal lord of a medical fiefdom within the city’s patronage-larded permanent government. While in that post, Brezenoff compiled a Rolodex listing all the shadowy players in the city, state and federal medical rackets swimming in Medicaid and Medicare dollars * Head of NYC’s cash-bleeding public hospital system to step down (NYDN)

More on Closing Long Island College Hospital

Timeline On the Village Nursing Home Investigation

Doctor reveals horrors that make this hospital ‘dangerous for kids’ (NYP) A pediatrician who spent three years as a resident at Coney Island Hospital spoke to The Post’s Melkorka Licea about the frightening patient care the doctor witnessed and heard about in the 371-bed Brooklyn facility. Fearing more children will be put in harm’s way, the physician wanted to shed light on the chronic negligence, unqualified care and poor supervision that plagues the city-run institution. I had already heard about Coney’s reputation for being unsafe for patients from fellow students and instructors, and it didn’t take long for me to realize it was especially dangerous for children.Each time a kid was brought to the emergency room, it felt like you were running a one-man show.We were chronically understaffed and most of the nurses were pulled from other departments. They didn’t know how to find a vein in a child’s arm for an IV, or how to perform CPR on a tiny infant. In addition to staff not being adequately trained for the specialized departments where they were thrown, the hospital was plagued by a poor work ethic. The staff would leave regularly to get food or take naps, while lax attending physicians failed to lead. Many physicians were not up to date on current medical guidelines and practiced outdated methods. Coney Island Hospital has a long track record of substandard care. Consumer Reports gave Coney Island Hospital a patient safety score of 37 out of 100 in 2015, putting it near the bottom of hospitals in New York state. The score measures factors such as infections and readmissions. The patient satisfaction score at Coney Island, according to the state Health Department, is 63 percent, also near the bottom of all hospitals. The state DOH issued 34 citations to the hospital following four inspections from July 2012 through June 2015.

The HHC Is Going Broke While the City Puts Band Aids On A Cancer

What price rescue for public hospitals? City budget can’t sustain de Blasio’s health care financial fix (NYDN) New York can no longer afford our expensive habit of ignoring or deferring the fiscal crisis brewing at Health + Hospitals, into which Mayor de Blasio recently announced that the city will pump $700 million — warning that the number could swell to more than $2 billion by 2020. “The current situation is not sustainable,” the mayor said during the presentation of the executive budget, in what might be the understatement of the year. The perennial deficits at H+H aren’t just unsustainable, they’re a ticking fiscal bomb threatening to blow a massive hole in the administration’s agenda, swallowing billions of dollars that would be better spent on schools, transportation, job creation, affordable housing and the like. We need firm, forceful and politically unpopular action to stem the losses at H+H, and that starts with straight talk from both sides of City Hall about just how dire the situation has become. Insurance companies and the medical professions have realigned financial incentives away from blindly paying for tests and procedures (whether needed or not) and toward actually keeping patients healthy.The result is that hospitals are shrinking in size and don’t need so many of wards full of recuperating patients, and they are competing with smaller, leaner clinics and health care organizations. To make things even tougher for Health + Hospitals, New York has a staggering 375,000 undocumented non-citizens who lack health insurance, according to the Mayor’s Task Force on Immigrant Health Care Access. Under the federal Affordable Care Act, they are specifically barred from getting government-subsidized private health insurance — so they end up using public hospital facilities for even routine health needs, putting more strain on the system. “They’re our fellow New Yorkers. We believe in supporting them,” de Blasio said at his budget briefing of the undocumented who don’t have insurance. That’s in keeping with the liberal New York assumption that any and all city services, no matter the cost, should be provided to undocumented immigrants. A 2014 report by the Citizens Budget Commission flagged the problem with h-aving so many people use hospitals for normal health needs, noting that nearly a quarter of admissions to H+H facilities are “preventable” — not medically necessary. What we need is a new conversation about the true cost of public health care in New York — one that acknowledges that spending billions on health care means less money for summer youth jobs, subsides for affordable housing, adult literacy programs and other important needs. Given what $2 billion could do to shrink classroom sizes or expand afterschool recreation and senior citizen programs, it’s time to talk about doing radical surgery on our hospital system, and soon. * Op-Ed: Mayor’s problems put LICH deal under renewed scrutiny (Red Hook Star Review)

More On Closing Hospitals and NYC Health Care Problems

6 Years to Fine Nursing Homes . . . Now That is Political Power

An audit from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s office found Cuomo’s administration has been taking up to six years to impose fines for health and safety violations in nursing homes, the Times Union reports:

NYC Public Hospitals Critical Condition de Blasio Throws Cash

Rapid changes in health care delivery, including Obamacare, have put the New York’s 11 municipal hospitals in increasingly critical condition and now is the time to start taking stock of the hospital system’s place in a fast-evolving system

Intensive careneeded to bring NYC’s public hospitals to good health (NYDN) Nine agonizing months after the head of the city’s ailing public hospitals buzzed the mayor’s pager, Dr. de Blasio is transfusing cash into to a hemorrhaging public hospital system. Rapid changes in health care delivery, including Obamacare, have put the New York’s 11 municipal hospitals into increasingly critical condition. The mayor’s belated response has been to prop them up with money. His latest financial plan calls for supporting the Health and Hospitals Corp. with an immediate $337 million and $1 billion more over the next five years. At best, he’s struggling to keep the doors open without confronting economics that will inescapably force HHC to undergo significant changes. De Blasio should have learned a painful lesson in health care realities from his losing battle to keep open Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital. There, a venerable local facility fell victim to the flight of patients to medical centers affiliated with major institutions like Mount Sinai and New York University. While running for mayor, de Blasio pledged to stop closure of LICH, in the process making a splash by getting arrested at a protest and wearing handcuffs as a badge of honor. Once in office, he wound up with a deal that shuttered the hospital in favor of a walk-in facility and real estate development. Many of the same forces that doomed LICH, plus some, are buffeting the city system. As more patients obtain health insurance under Obamacare, they’ve been leaving the public system in droves, with a 2.5% drop in visits last year alone. Adding to HHC woes, Obamacare cut funds that had been used to treat the uninsured — patients who account for 1 of every 4 outpatient visits. Meanwhile, world-class private health systems like NYU compete aggressively to lock insured patients into their doctor networks. You may have seen the ads on TV and in the subways. HHC’s president, Dr. Ram Raju, last year plotted a plan to compete with those private giants for patients’ loyalty, aiming for an audacious 43% increase by 2020. Sooner or later, there will be a reckoning as the hospitals demand large city subsidies. Now is the time to start honestly taking stock of the hospital system’s place in a fast-evolving health system.

Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH

Mayor Shuts Down City Hospital IG After Bad Reports of Management

In This City of Corruption Controlling the Investigator and Prosecutors Important to Protect the Ruling Class

Inspector general of troubled city hospitals steps down (NYP) The public hospitals system is disbanding the office of its inspector general following a series of reports in The Post exposing long-running mismanagement— including a backlog of more than 800 open cases at one point. Sources said that 11-year IG Norman Dion was asked to resign in the wake of the unflattering headlines. Health and Hospitals Corp officials insisted the 62-year-old’s departure stemmed from his pending retirement. Responsibility for investigating the hospitals system is being moved to the Department of Investigation — even though HHC is only partially funded by the city.* NYC’s $7 billion municipal hospital system will barely have enough cash on hand to pay its bills by the end of the fiscal year, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli warned. * State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli warned in a new report that New York City’s $7 billion municipal hospital system will barely have enough cash on hand to pay its bills by the end of the fiscal year, the Post reports:

More On Closing Hospitals and NYC Health Care Problems

To de Blasio Hospitals Are Nothing But A Campaign Prop

Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill neighborhood isn’t giving good reviews to a developer’s proposals for the Long Island College Hospital site. Neither of the two plans include a full-service hospital, something that de Blasio once vowed he would fight for.

De Blasio’s Stand on LICH Site Disheartens Brooklyn’s Cobble Hill Neighborhood (WSJ) Developer’s plans don’t include full-service hospital, something mayor once vowed he would fight for. In 2013, when Bill de Blasio was the city’s public advocate and campaigning for mayor, he was arrested at a demonstration over the possible closure of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. “This is about fighting for our hospitals,” Mr. de Blasio said as he was led away in disposable plastic handcuffs. Now, as a developer brings forward two proposals to rebuild and expand the LICH site, Mr. de Blasio’s administration has been publicly and privately supportive of one of the plans, which would include new affordable apartments. Both proposals include tall towers in the low-rise Cobble Hill neighborhood, but neither include a full-service hospital. Rebecca Katz, a former aide in the de Blasio administration, is now working with the developer, Fortis Property Group LLC, to persuade a skeptical community to support one of the plans. At the 2014 news conference, Mr. de Blasio and others celebrated the decision that forced the State University of New York, which then owned the site, to put out a new request for proposals. LICH had reported annual operating losses for 17 consecutive years, according to a state audit. “This is a transcendent moment for health care in New York City,” said Mr. de Blasio, who took partial credit for keeping the “wolf from the door.” The hospital is now closed. Many in the community, however, aren’t happy. Theirs is a historic community of low-rise brownstones and townhouses. And while some blamed SUNY and the state for not doing more to save the hospital, they all remember Mr. de Blasio’s 2013 protest. “It was an exercise to help him get elected as mayor,” said Roy Sloane, a longtime former president of the Cobble Hill Association. “I don’t think he did anything to save LICH.” Franklin Stone, a longtime resident who also has served as association president, said many in the community supported affordable housing but felt that a large tower and a new school would clog an already packed neighborhood—and still leave residents needing more health care options.

de Blasio Campaign Manager Bill Hires' Hilltop Now Works for Deverloper on the Hospital Site

1. Hires: de Blasio Campaign Manager Who Uses Candidate Fake Arrest to Protest A Closing Hospital As A Prop

2. Once the Hospital is Closed Hires Who Works for the Mayor Slush Fund PAC One NY Uses It to Tell the Community That the Band Aid ER the Developer Agreed to Build is As Good As the Closed Hospital

3. Hires: Sell A Large Development to Replace te Closed to A Community Who Opposes It*

Airbnb Accuses NYC Lawmakers Of "An Attack On TheMiddle Class": At a contentious City Council hearing earlier… * Airbnb is not happy with the NYC Council, which today will hear legislation that would further penalize hosts for renting out their homes illegally. In advance of the hearing, the apartment-rental platform delivered a letter to Council members signed by Airbnb hosts imploring them to back off. * Airbnb agrees to discuss sharing data with officials to crack down on illegal operators (NYDN) * City Council Members Clash with Airbnb Officials at Hearing (NY1) * Councilman threatens $100K fines onAirbnb’s ‘illegal hotels’ (NYP)

4. Is de Blasio Using His 2013 Campaign Account to Pay Hires to Supplement His Pay the Director of His One NY PAC?

More About de Blasio Closing Hospitals
de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund, Berlin Rosen, Bill Hyers, Red Horse

Lobbyists BerlinRosen Takes Over NYC Government

Berlin Rosen and de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund

NY1 Berlin Rosen and the Wiseguys Lobbyists

The WFP and Berlin Rosen Has Played Fast and Lose With the Election Law, Data and Field Arrests

Lobbyists Berlin Rosen Takes Over NYC Government

The Media Cover Up of Citizens United

Sugar Fix: Berlin Rosen an Unregistered Real Estate Lobbyists

More Hospitals In Trouble

Looks like de Blasio has another shrinking-hospital problemon his hands * Mount Sinai informs City Hall of possible Beth Israel downsizing (PoliticoNY) Executives from Mount Sinai Health System met with the de Blasio administration late last month to discuss plans to rebuild Beth Israel Hospital, replacing its aging infrastructure with what could be a smaller facility with fewer in-patient beds. * ABANDONED HOSPITAL HORROR: Teen falls to his death in an elevator shaft at long-shuttered Staten Island hospital (NYDN)

More on Closing Hospitals

de Blasio's Campaign Govt Ecco System
Closing Hospitals, Losing Union Jobs, Developers $$$, Forcing Mega Developments On A Community

In 2013 de Blasio used the proposed closing of LICH Hospital as a campaign prop. The Campaign Manager for de Blasio is Hilltops Bill Hyers Bill de Blasio arrested at SUNY protest - NY Daily News * De Blasio Arrested, Just as He Wanted - NYTimes.com 5 Months After He Became Mayor LICH Hospital Closed 2500 Nurses Lose Their Jobs The End for Long Island College Hospital - The New York Times The Daily News Says That the Mayor's PAC One New York is Destroy the City's Campaign Finance System Progressive Bill deBlasio kills NYC's campaign finance program (NYDN Ed) Let Mayor de Blasio admit this fact: His bear hug of the Fund for One New York, the not-at-all-independent nonprofit advocacy group he created, is hastening the demise of the city’s public campaign finance system. Hilltop's Bill Hyers and Berlin Rosen Run de Blasio One New York Slush Fund .Fortis Hires Hyers Hilltop Firm With de Blasio Connections for LICHSite Proposal Community Opposes Fortis Mega Development Which Hired Hyers Struggle Over Controversial LICH Development Rocks CobbleHill Neighborhood Association September 27th 2015 the Anti-Non Union Workers Rat Stands In Front of the Construction Site That Used to Be Known As Long Island College Hospital

More on Closing Hospitals
Campaign 2013 Media Failure And Broken Political Promises
Berlin Rosen and de Blasio One NY PAC Slush Fund

The Media Cover Up of Citizens United

Sugar Fix: Berlin Rosen an Unregistered Real Estate Lobbyists

Carroll Gardens Association - Cover-Up of Members' Dark Money LICH Mailing

Albany Pols See Hospitals As A Personal Piggy Bank, Silver, Boyland, Seminerio

New York-Presbyterian was biggest beneficiary of slush fund (NYP) New York-Presbyterian Hospital was the biggest beneficiary of state money from a slush fund controlled by former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, records show. Not only did NYP cancer researcher Dr. Robert Taub rake in $500,000 from the fund — while referring patients to Silver’s law firm — but the hospital got $3 million for renovation work in its ERs. The dental school at the affiliated Columbia University Medical Center took in another $1 million to pay for a clinic and mobile-treatment van. The slush fund paid out $38.6 million in taxpayer money from 1999 to 2009 to hospitals, health-care agencies and other nonprofits, according to records obtained by The Post under a Freedom of Information request to the state Health Department. The money was used to pay for salaries, buy equipment, build facilities, shore up struggling hospitals and fund research. The funding for the so-called HCRA Assembly Pool came from taxes, including a surcharge on insurers implemented under the state Health Care Reform Act. The Assembly got up to $8.5 million a year to add to the pool.

Boyland's hospital 'consulting' gig lined his pockets ...(NYDN) * Hospital Buy-Back Scheme: Boyland Solicits $250,000Bribe (FBI) On or about April 29, 2011, during a recorded conversation in a hotel suite in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Boyland solicited a $250,000 bribe from UC1 and UC2. Boyland proposed a scheme which called for UC1 and UC2 to purchase a former hospital in Boyland’s district for $8 million, obtain state grant money to renovate the hospital, and resell it to a non-profit organization that Boyland claimed to control for $15 million. In exchange for the $250,000, Boyland promised that he would, among other things, arrange for the sale and take official action and use his influence to secure state grant money to allow UC1 and UC2 to renovate the hospital so that it could be sold to Boyland’s organization for a profit.

Suit: Ex-Assemblyman shook down hospital - NY Daily News Ex-Assemblyman Anthony Seminerio shook down Parkway Hospital, says suit * Lawmaker's Partnership in a Consulting Firm Is Queried (NYT) Assemblyman Clarence Norman Jr. sponsored legislation that allowed the city hospital system to require contractors to hire minority-owned companies in rebuilding Kings County Hospital Center, just two months before he became a business partner of a man who had a contract worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to recruit minority contractors for the project

Speaker Sheldon Silver, His Law Firm $$$

How Real Estate $$$ Corruption Government and Politics Silver Skelos Indictment

CorruptJudicial Conventions and the Courts Silver Indictment

More on Sheldon Silver and His Indictment

US Attorney Preet Bharara

Moreland Investigation Ends, Media Cover-Up

de Blasio's Leading From Behind: Public Hospital Crisis

Paging Doctor deBlasio: New York City'sHealth and Hospitals Corp. needs emergency care from the mayor (NYDN) The city’s top doctor on Tuesday pronounced the municipal hospitals in critical financial condition — and says New Yorkers will have to step up to save them. Are you ready to pitch in? Mayor de Blasio hasn’t been. Fifteen months into his term, it suddenly dawns that the Health and Hospitals Corp.’s 11 major medical centers are hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Without radical treatment, they are terminal. Landmark institutions like Bellevue, Kings County, North Central Bronx and Elmhurst Medical Center face dire futures thanks to accelerating changes in the health-care marketplace, including Obamacare. Yet the mayor has raised no warnings about the looming crisis, let alone offered a vision for maintaining the nation’s largest public health-care system.

More On Hospital Closing and Problems

To de Blasio Hospitals Are Nothing But A Campaign Prop

Paging Doctor de Blasio: New York City's Health andHospitals Corp. needs emergency care from the mayor (NYDN Ed) The city’s top doctor on Tuesday pronounced the municipal hospitals in critical financial condition — and says New Yorkers will have to step up to save them. Are you ready to pitch in? Mayor de Blasio hasn’t been. Fifteen months into his term, it suddenly dawns that the Health and Hospitals Corp.’s 11 major medical centers are hemorrhaging hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Without radical treatment, they are terminal. Reflecting the gravity of the crisis, HHC Commissioner Dr. Ram Raju promised his workforce, “The Health and Hospitals Corp. must and will survive.” Then, he presented a rescue plan whose success would hinge on beating incredibly tough odds. Landmark institutions like Bellevue, Kings County, North Central Bronx and Elmhurst Medical Center face dire futures thanks to accelerating changes in the health-care marketplace, including Obamacare. Yet the mayor has raised no warnings about the looming crisis, let alone offered a vision for maintaining the nation’s largest public health-care system. * City hospital head lays out ambitious vision (Capital)* New York City’s cash-strapped public hospital system, tasked with caring for many uninsured and vulnerable residents amid growing budget deficits, unveiled a plan to help shore up its finances by 2020, the Journal reports: * After police refused to let thousands of peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters march in the street on Wednesday, some people noted that the NYPD's tactic of violently repelling and arresting demonstrators differed considerably from how the de Blasio administration handled similar protests just a few months ago. At a press conference yesterday, the mayor assured reporters that this was wrong: "If you guys want to sensationalize, if you think that's your contribution to society, feel free."

As the Concerned Physicians of LICH Keep Up the Fight to Reopen the Hospital the Mayor and Other Pols are Long Gone

LICH supportersrally in Brooklyn as Appellate Court mulls appeal (Brooklyn Daily Eagle) he battle for shuttered Long Island College Hospital (LICH) played out in front of the state Appellate Division in Brooklyn Heights on Thursday, as supporters waved signs reading, “Save LICH!” and “We’re still here, we still need a full service hospital.” The rally was held to support an appeal by a doctors group seeking to overturn the State University of New York’s (SUNY) decision to award the hospital property to Fortis Property Group. SUNY has been trying to throw out the appeal of the Concerned Physicians of LICH, one of many community groups that fought for more than two years to save the historic Cobble Hill hospital. Barbara Gartner, a member of the group Patients for LICH, said, “The Physicians have a good case, they should have their day in court.” SUNY attorney Frank Carone, however, maintains the Physicians lack the standing to appeal. “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” he said on Friday. “SUNY’s position has not changed. The Concerned Physicians or any individual member can spin it all they want. They simply have no standing.” Patients for LICH member Cynthia Nebel told the Eagle during Thursday’s rally,

HHC Corruption: Where is the Council Hearings? Where the Arrests?

Health officials axed amid probe for improper billing (NYT) Three top officials with the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp. have been forced out amid a probe of improper billing for a $764 million revamp of its records system. * 4th official leaves amid hospital system’s improper billing probe (NYP)

More on the HHC

More on Closing Hospitals

Why I am Not Voting Janet (LICH Broken Promise) Gamble, Crown Heights

Why I will no longer vote in NYC(Brooklyn Eagle)As a voter, you put your hope and trust in the person you cast your ballot for and want so badly ... so very badly, that they will try to come through for you. But now I see how stupid and naive I was. Now I see it is not the voters that some New York politicians are working for — its rich, real estate interests. They are the official owners of New York politics. It's not hard to see the damage these people have caused the average New Yorker. Affordable housing is almost non-existent in every borough. Once-beautiful historic blocks of brownstone housing are now dotted with newly constructed houses that resemble ugly cereal boxes. The well-off New Yorker has their pick of luxury housing, which brings me to the reason I will no longer vote.

Mayoral hopeful Bill de Blasio was arrested Wednesday morning protesting the closure of Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital - Campaign 2013

Long Island College Hospital (LICH) has just been sold to a developer who donated money to Gov. Cuomo. Several other companies were supposed to bid on running this hospital, but trumped up excuses were made against the first two bidders and they were passed over in favor of a company that donated the most money to the governor. This should be a scandal and fodder for whoever is running against the governor this year...but it won't be. Who is going to investigate this? No one... not when you've pretty much hired everyone who could investigate you. Our current mayor got himself arrested last year, protesting the closing of this hospital, but I knew it was just a stunt to gain attention ... and it worked. I voted for him with the silly hope that he would at least try to save the hospital, and when he negotiated a deal for different companies to bid for running the hospital, I had hope again...silly, silly hope. Despite de Blasio promises, troubled hospital is closing down (Fox 5) * Bill de Blasio arrested at SUNY protest - NY Daily News * De Blasio Arrested, Just as He Wanted - NYTimes.com

‏@SalAlbaneseNYC

DEB political grandstanding in campaign over LICH & subsequent abandonment when elected is an example of why citizens are cynical about pols @SalAlbaneseNYC is not happy about LICH @HuffPostNY "LICH already served its purpose as de Blasio's campaign prop."

Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH

Is the Failed 911 System Causing the Slower Ambulance Time?

Is Vision Zero Making the Streets Harder (more traffic jams) for the Ambulances to Get Around . . . Are Closed Hospitals Making Ambulances Trips Longer, Tying Up the Availability?

New York City plans to add more ambulance tours as the FDNY commissioner said the average ambulance response time increased by nearly two minutes from last year’s average 'BEYOND APPALLING': FDNY ambulances took 2 minutes longer to respond to emergencies in February compared to last year, fire chief says (NYDN) FDNY ambulances took more than 11 minutes to get to life-threatening medical emergencies last month — almost two minutes longer than the average response time last year — setting off an alarm for city pols, it was revealed Tuesday. The average response time for serious emergencies spiked to 11 minutes and 7 seconds in February, Commissioner Daniel Nigro testified at a City Council hearing. Nigro called the February number an “aberration” that he blamed on snowy weather, even as he acknowledged response times are too high overall — averaging 9 minutes, 30 seconds for the 2014 fiscal year. Last February, there was a similar spike, with response times exceeding 11 minutes, according to data on the FDNY’s website. Last August, it was 10 minutes. Update FDNY raps councilwoman for citing inaccurate response times (NYP) Crowley blasted the department and Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro Tuesday for what she described as an “unacceptable” spike in emergency response times last month — citing an “appalling” response of 11 minutes and 7 seconds. But that figure was wrong, according to FDNY figures, which clocked the responses at 9:38.

Media Does Not Analysis Reason for Increased Ambulance Response Time Only Gives the Mayor Spin

FDNY’s Nigro called the February number an “aberration” that he blamed on snowy weather. Mayor de Blasio’s budget for next year provides $11.3 million for the FDNY to add 45 more ambulance tours and $6.7 million to hire 149 new emergency dispatch staffers. They also plan to add 24 more EMS lieutenants. Nigro said that should shave 20 seconds off last year’s response times. “We’d like to have the fastest response possible, within the resources that we can ask for responsibly,” he said. “I think that the department is answering these calls properly now and we know we can do a little bit better, and we will.”

Tom Robbins ‏@tommy_robb

The transparencymayor adopts a Bloomberg position re refusing to comply with wage reporting law. (Capital)

Close St Vincent's Makes People Die
Closing A Hospital kills People in Lots Of Ways

Wind-Blown Plywood Kills Woman in Greenwich Village (NYT) Tram Thuy Nguyen, who came to New York about eight months ago to be with her fiancé, died after she was struck by wood from a construction site on West 12th Street, the police said.* Woman killed by flying plywood from NYC construction site(NYP)* Pedestrian injuries from falling construction debris on the rise (NYP) In the past five years, 59 people have been struck by falling debris from New York City construction sites. And the numbers are on the rise: 27 percent

CHING HEARTS: Bride-to-be killed by flying plywood in Manhattan laid to rest in wedding dress — 'This loss is so great'(NYDN)

To the Newspapers Its Not the Closed St. Vincent's Hospital It is A Construction Site

The Rudin Luxury Condo Conversion Plan will set a dangerous public health precedent. City politicians would be saying that a top 1% real estate developer can make hundreds of millions of dollars in private profit by converting the charitable public real estate buildings of the former St. Vincent's Hospital, whilst the 99% have no replacement Level One Trauma Center or Full-Service Hospital. If Rudin's Condo Plan is approved, Mayor Bloomberg would be saying that it is O.K. for an entire section of New York City to have no full-service hospital. How can this be a responsible public health care policy ? Mayor Bloomberg needs to stop the Rudin Condo Plan for St. Vincent's Hospital until a full-service hospital is created.

More on Closing NYC Hospitals

HHC Executive Runs A Jobs Program for Her Family

City HR honcho accused of using power to hire six family members (NYP) A senior human-resources director at the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp. used her powerful post to help numerous family members land gigs throughout the public-hospitals system, investigators found. Gloria Velez, a senior human resources director at New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corp., used her powerful post to help numerous family members land gigs throughout the public-hospitals system. Gloria Velez’s family affair included husband George, daughters Gianelle and Gina, their two significant others, and son George Jr. — all of whom got jobs over the years at HHC. Investigators found that Velez supervised and co-approved raises for one daughter’s eventual fiancé, Michael Roman — whose salary more than doubled to $78,650 over seven years. Five months before Roman got one of the promotions, he e-mailed Velez seeking a 39 percent raise to see if she would go for it. “Just in case you wanna give it a try, hahhaa [sic] no pressure,” he wrote. When a subsequent raise fell below the 20 percent boost he was seeking, Roman complained to Velez that it wasn’t enough. “Roses are red, violets are blue. Thought I was getting 20%, but I got screwed :(,” he wrote in an e-mail. Investigators found that Velez also got subordinates to train her daughters — who didn’t have positions at HHC at the time — to perform clerical and administrative tasks. The girls later put that experience on their résumés to apply for internal job postings not accessible to the public.

How Connected Lawyers Make Millions Off A Sick Hospital

Coucilman wants investigation into Interfaith money scandal (NYDN)

EXCLUSIVE: Lawfirms, accountants made $16M in fees off InterfaithMedical Center'sbankruptcy (NYDN) The cash-strapped hospital in in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, was mired in bankruptcy proceedings for months. A federal monitor singled out more than $700,000 in bills as questionable, including charges for meals, travel and even billable hours for the time spent tallying up the bills. Despite all the objections, the judge overseeing Interfaith’s bankruptcy approved nearly every dime requested —including $922,000 for three months of work by a lawyer who was once her boss on the bench. “It was outrageous,” said Lauretta James, a CPA who briefly served on Interfaith’s board before she was voted off. James said the board — which at the time included a dentist, a priest, an architect and the chief of staff to then-Rep. Edolphus Towns — was asleep at the switch while the growing number of advisers aggressively dipped into the hospital’s taxpayer-funded trough. Take the accountant firm of Cohn Reznick, hired before the bankruptcy in 2012 on a $250,000 retainer. By the day of the bankruptcy filing, Cohn Reznick had billed Interfaith for more than $546,000, records show. Yet they were kept on, and soon ran up $2.8 million in fees and expenses. A year later, on Oct. 1, 2014, Chief Bankruptcy Judge Carla Craig signed off on a total of $16.7 million in accumulated fees and expenses. Most were billable hours, but the total also included $245,000 in expenses such as copies, phone calls, meals, travel and hotel costs*Community Calls on Gov. Cuomo to Remove Execs at Interfaith Medical Center (DNAINFO) The public plea to Gov. Andrew Cuomo comes days after the Brooklyn District Attorney announced a plan to investigate $16 million in fees paid to lawyers and financial advisers during the Bed-Stuy hospital’s bankruptcy case. * DA to Probe $16M Spent on Consultants by BankruptInterfaith Hospital (DNAINFO)

Closing Hospitals More on Hospital Closings

Montefiore’s New Bronx Medical Center Emphasizes Outpatient Care(NYT)

The Deed is Done . . . LICH Hospital is Dead

SUNY signsdeal to sell LICH(Capital) SUNY has finalized a deal to sell Long Island College Hospital to a Brooklyn developer, ending a two-year battle to shed the money-losing hospital. Fortis Property Group will purchase the campus for $240 million, and N.Y.U. Langone Medical Center will run the remaining health care on the site, along with Lutheran Medical Center. N.Y.U. has committed to building a $175 million, four-story medical facility that will eventually have a staff of 400, including about 70 physicians. The amount of square-footage devoted to medical care is double what was originally proposed in the Fortis bid, "in recognition of the need for greater services in the community," SUNY chair Carl McCall said in a statement. McCall said SUNY negotiated for increased health care on the site, in response to the needs of the surrounding communities. * SUNY has reached a deal to sell Long Island College Hospital to Brooklyn developer Fortis for $240 million—the final chapter in a two-year battle that cost taxpayers millions and pitted the community against the state, the Daily News writes:

Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH More

Albany Sees Hospitals As A Cash Cow . . . Not to Protect Us

Kruger, Seminerio, Boyland and Espada All In Jail In Part for Pocketing Bribes From Hospitals

Besides designating the eight hospitals, the state announcement last week also required that all hospitals follow “protocols for identification, isolation and medical evaluation of patients requiring care.”“Since 2006, 13 full-service hospitals have closed in New York City, representing the loss of each of entire facilities, strategic community resources, and the capacity of thousands of hospital beds.” The city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene would not comment about the impact the closure of Long Island College Hospital, or LICH, or other recent hospital closings, would have on city plans to being able to effectively contain and treat an outbreak of Ebola in New York City. The closure of LICH meant the loss of 506 hospital beds. Other important considerations raised in Dr. Farmer’s essay, like the failure of the market-driven pharmaceutical industry to develop treatments or vaccines for diseases that primarily strike people in poor countries, in low numbers at first, need to be addressed, as well.

Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH

Two Weeks Ago A Bellevue Nurse Complained to FEMA That A Private Hospital Got $1.2 Billion and Public Hospitals Nothing

FEMA Sandy Aid to NYU Questioned Amid Public HospitalWoes (NBC) On New York City's First Avenue, two hospitals sit two blocks apart, but the scenes last week could not have been more different.Though Bellevue is New York's biggest public hospital and the first option in responding to public health crises, including Ebola, NYU -- a private medical facility -- has secured nearly 10 times more Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster aid. The federal government's $1.2 billion award to NYU is the second largest sum of disaster assistance in the history of FEMA Bellevue has been given $117 million. “I find it inexcusable,” said Ann Bove, a Bellevue Hospital nurse who serves as Secretary of the New York State Nurses Association, a union that represents thousands of nurses at New York City’s public hospitals. Last August, Bove wrote a searing letter calling the imbalance of FEMA aid “unwarranted and unfair,” particularly because Bellevue treats far more uninsured and Medicaid patients than NYU does.* $1.6B in FEMA funds for NY Sandy hospitals(NYP) * City hospitals hit by Hurricane Sandy getting $1.6B FEMA grant * NYC Gets $1.6B in Sandy Money for Hospitals(WSJ)

Today The Pols Announce A Little Money for Public Hospitals and the Media Said Nothing About the Nurse Who Complained to FEMA

NYC Gets $1.6B in Sandy Money for Hospitals Wall Street Journal

FEMA pledges at least $1.6 billion to aid Sandy-damaged public hospitals Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Mayor de Blasio, Schumer Announce $1.6B FEMA Grant For Sandy ... JP Updates

Four NYC Hospitals Damaged In Superstorm Sandy To Get $1.6 ...CBS Local

The NYC Health and Hospitals Corporation is facing a $3.2 billion shortfall by the end of de Blasio’s first term, and its plans to close the gap “are at best risky and may prove unachievable,” according to the CBC. * A Citizen’s Budget Commission report found that without an aggressive gap-closing plan, the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation will exhaust its cash reserves by 2016, Crain’s reports:

If the Pols Found the Money for the Public Hospital Why No Money to Keep LICH Hospital From Closing?

SUNY Closes A Hospital In Brooklyn Heights and Now Wants A Building for the Chancellor In the Same Neighorhood

SUNY should have made a deal with the developer to give Zimpher an apartment

SUNY wants to purchase a new downtown residence for ChancellorNancy Zimpher:

The Real Reason Why New Yorker Vote is Decreasing

Why I will no longer vote in NYC (Brooklyn Eagle) I have been voting in New York City for nearly 30 years, and now I feel no need to vote here ever again. As a voter, you put your hope and trust in the person you cast your ballot for and want so badly ... so very badly, that they will try to come through for you. But now I see how stupid and naive I was. Now I see it is not the voters that some New York politicians are working for — its rich, real estate interests. They are the official owners of New York politics. It's not hard to see the damage these people have caused the average New Yorker. Affordable housing is almost non-existent in every borough. Once-beautiful historic blocks of brownstone housing are now dotted with newly constructed houses that resemble ugly cereal boxes. The well-off New Yorker has their pick of luxury housing, which brings me to the reason I will no longer vote. Long Island College Hospital (LICH) has just been sold to a developer who donated money to Gov. Cuomo. Several other companies were supposed to bid on running this hospital, but trumped up excuses were made against the first two bidders and they were passed over in favor of a company that donated the most money to the governor. This should be a scandal and fodder for whoever is running against the governor this year...but it won't be. Who is going to investigate this? No one... not when you've pretty much hired everyone who could investigate you.* Negative ads, voter indifference blamed for low electionturnout, experts say

More about Closing LICH Here and Here

SUNY Closes A Hospital In Brooklyn Heights and Now Wants A Building for the Chancellor In the Same Neighorhood

SUNY should have made a deal with the developer to give Zimpher an apartment

SUNY wants to purchase a new downtown residence for ChancellorNancy Zimpher:

The Real Reason Why New Yorker Vote is Decreasing

More about Closing LICH Here and Here

Pray for the Dead Hospital and Those That Will Die As A Result

A.G., Comptroller sign off on LICH deal (Capital) The state's Attorney General and Comptroller have approved SUNY's plan to sell Long Island College Hospital to a Brooklyn real estate developer, the final step in a two-year long process to sell the Cobble Hill hospital.

How LICH Hospital Was Murdered In Cold Blood

Shocker: How SUNY lost more than $100M mismanaging LICH(Daily Eagle)

Failure to ‘credential’ doctors lost major insurance monies The State University of New York (SUNY) has repeatedly claimed it was forced to shut down Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Brooklyn and sell the property to a developer because the hospital was losing millions of dollars a month. Now, public filings, testimony and documents obtained by the Brooklyn Eagle show that SUNY treated thousands of patients at LICH for free for almost two years, losing more than $100 million — at the very least — in revenue that it is now scrambling to recover. Over the past couple of months, former LICH patients across Brooklyn have received bills for treatment at LICH that go back, in some cases, more than two years. How did this happen. Documents show that after taking over LICH in May 2011, SUNY Downstate’s failure to file standard paperwork with insurance companies cost LICH at least $106 million -- and likely more.

Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH

Why I am Not Voting Janet (LICH) Gamble, Crown Heights

Has Albany Forced Hospital Closings Put New Yorkers in Danger If There is An Ebola Outbreak in the City?

New Yorkprepares for Ebola after years-long campaign of hospital closings(Progressive Queens) Last Tuesday, when city health officials first announced that Bellevue Hospital would treat Ebola patients in New York City, the announcement was cheered by health officials of other city hospitals, who had feared that they would have to treat Ebola patients. However, the relaxed mood didn't last long, before Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) expanded the list of hospitals, which had been designated to receive and treat Ebola patients. Of eight hospitals statewide designated by Gov. Cuomo, four are located in New York City : Mount Sinai Medical Center, Bellevue, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, and Montefiore Medical Center.

. LICH Hospital Loses After 2 Elections

LICH deal crumbles After the 2nd Election . . . 1. After Mayor's 2013 Campaign Promise to Keep LICH A Full Service Hospital the Developer Created A Doctor in A Box Emergency Room . . . 2. After 2014 Election Community Loses Fake ER

The judge, DOH and SUNY all seem to be at fault

N.Y.U.Langone Medical Center is pulling out of its agreement to run Long IslandCollege Hospital, derailing a deal to sell the property and leaving open the question of whether any health care will be offered on site Just when you thought it was over...the neverending mess at#LICH comes roaring back. "LICH Deal Crumbles" (Capital)* Deal to keep emergency room at site of Long Island City Hospital collapses(NYDN) A deal to keep an emergency room on the site of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn has collapsed, a huge setback to Mayor de Blasio’s plan to keep a health care facility there.* NYU Backs Out of LICH Project(WSJ) University Medical Center Cites Nursing Dispute as It Steps Away from Brooklyn Development***Tuesday Update ‘Expectations are low’ for salvaging a LICH deal (Capital)

An E.R., Not a Hospital, Is Set to Open at St. Vincent’s Site(NYT)

24-hour emergency care center opening to fill St. Vincent’s void(NYP)

\#LICH closure causing growing political backlash in #Brooklyn : de Blasio, Cuomo coming under pressure. #saveLICH http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/lich-closure-causing-growing-political-backlash-brooklyn-2014-06-17-200200 …

* SUNY announced that Fortis Property Group signed a contract to buy the Long Island College Hospital, which must be approved by the state comptroller, attorney general and the state Supreme Court, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports: http://goo.gl/dpDXO6

Quinn Blasio Working Behind the Scenes to Keep LICH Alive

‏@maggiepolitico

Seems like just yesterday that de Blasio was mocking Chris Quinn for something similar on St. Vincent's

Behind the scenes, mayor’s people work to save LICH deal

Teachout No Debate Little Press At Closed LICH Hospital . . . Media Thinks Public Does Not Care About A Closed Hospital? Or Something Else Going On?

Props 2 Bkln Eagle, NY1, Capital NY, WCBS! Shame on rest of press For Skipping Teachout's Press Conference on the Closing Of the LICH Hospital

No wonder why only 10% of the public knows who she is. The same lack of investigative press coverage can explain why 69% of the public does not know what the Moreland Commission is or 60% Don't Know the name to the AG.Even with Teachout on the ballot everyone expects a record low turnout for a governor's Primary.

Many In Cobble Hill Think So
There are signs that de Blasio is willing to fight for ordinary New Yorkers, but many in Cobble Hill think he is setting aside the fact that he protested the proposed closure of Long Island College Hospital last year, Liza Featherstone writes in amNewYork:

Big Nonprofit Hospitals Who Use Their Political Power to Close Hospitals for the Poor, Do Not Help the City's Uninsured
A Tale of Two Hospitals System

NYC’s top nonprofit hospitals spend little on care for uninsured(NYP)The city’s top nonprofit hospitals enjoy the tax-free perks of charitable organizations and receive millions of dollars in state aid — yet spend less than 2 percent on the poor in the form of free care. New York Presbyterian — the city’s wealthiest hospital — raked in $3.9 billion in revenue in 2012, but administered a paltry 1.03 percent, or $37.6 million, of its total expenditures in free care for the uninsured, according to the most recent tax documents available.
Meanwhile, it paid Executive Vice Chairman Herbert Pardes $5.58 million and CEO Steven Corwin $3.58 million that year. The hospitals “would rather put the money into their salaries,” said Anthony Feliciano, director of the advocacy group Commission on the Public’s Health System.* NYC’s top nonprofit hospitals enjoy the tax-free perks of charitable organizations and receive millions of dollars in state aid — yet spend less than 2 percent on the poor in the form of free care.* #LICH heads back to #Brooklyn court Tuesday vs. SUNY hospital rankings. #saveLICH press conference/ rally 9 a.m.

‏@SalAlbaneseNYC

DEB political grandstanding in campaign over LICH & subsequent abandonment when elected is an example of why citizens are cynical about pols

Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH

Making History for a 3rd Time New Operator Found for LICH Hospital
The new deal over the future of the LICH may be confirmed, but it is much the same one reached in past
Fortis Property Group, which plans to replace Long Island College Hospital with luxury condos and an outpatient facility that includes an emergency room and clinics, has been chosen as the new developer for the institution, the Daily News reports * SEIU 1199, the powerful union representing workers at NYC’s private hospitals, has taken on a new fight: preserving free health care for its own members.* Hospital League head: 1199 contract threat 'misleading' and 'counterproductive'(Capital) * The mayor’s mouse — hapless hospital hijinx(NYP Ed) * Bill’s bitter pil(NYP) * The Post writes that the good news is the battle over the future of Long Island College Hospital is over, but the bad news is the deal is the same one reached before activists, judges and politicians made it their mission to prop up a bankrupt, unworkable facility:*
.@billdeblasio is happy with a LICH deal that all local elected officials deride. Hmm.(Capital) .@billdeblasio, local elected officials split over
More on Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH

NYP Reports That the LICH Deal Has Fallen Apart Again

Bill de Blasio’s LICH crusade hits another snag(NYP) The mayor’s costly bid to keep healthcare services operating in Cobble Hill took another hit Wednesday, after a second real estate firm saw its tentative deal with SUNY fall apart. Unfortunately, several portions of the Peebles proposal have dramatically changed, including the possibility of long delays in the manner and method in which health care will be provided at the site,” said SUNY spokesman David Doyle. “Additionally, Peebles is seeking a cost-sharing agreement in which taxpayers would be partially responsible for environmental remediation,” added Doyle, who characterized that portion of the proposal as “unacceptable.” In a letter to SUNY, a lawyer for The Peebles Corporation “forcefully” disputed the university’s contention that negotiations had reached an impasse. “We have been extremely responsive to community needs and involvement, as well as to SUNY’s concerns, and have made an extraordinary commitment of resources… to achieve a seamless and uninterrupted operation of the emergency department at LICH,” reads the May 27th letter. With Peebles out, the third highest-rated bidder – NYU Langone Medical Center – now has 30 days to hammer out a deal to revive the ailing medical center. With Peebles out, the third highest-rated bidder – NYU Langone Medical Center – now has 30 days to hammer out a deal to revive the ailing medical center.Deputy Mayor Tony Shorris was a former executive at Langone. The center teamed up with Fortis Property Group and Lutheran Healthcare for its $240 million proposal. Months after the mayor declared a “historic” victory with the initial deal to preserve healthcare at LICH, the hospital has essentially shuttered other than a free-standing emergency unit. That initial deal with Brooklyn Health Partners – the highest-rated bidder in a bumpy process that’s been overseen by a Brooklyn judge – was dumped earlier this month.*SUNY cuts off talks with second-choice bidder for LICH site * Cool and Calm at Center of an E.R. Maelstrom in the Bronx(NYT) At Lincoln Hospital, Dr. Fernando Jara runs what may be the single busiest emergency room in New York City, which handled a staggering 173,000 visits in 2013.* Three Brooklyn hospitals drowning in unpaid water debt(NYDN) * After the latest setback for the Long Island College Hospital, New York City Assemblyman Karim Camara of Brooklyn is questioning the State University of New York’s ability to handle the matter, the Daily New writes: *Bill de Blasio stumbled on Long Island College Hospital amNY * Now Third-Place Bidder May Nab Long Island College Hospital Curbed NY* Negotiations between SUNY and The Peebles Corporation over Long Island College Hospital began to unravel a week ago, according to emails obtained by Capital New York:

ha. Al points out this but with matching (if NYC Resident) that's $6,000:
Blasio, who lived a few short subway stops from LICH, offered only passive support. It's no wonder: his campaign had received $1,000 from Fortis president Joel Kestenbaum, one of several developers vying for the property.

de Blasio Fund Raising Chair Lobbyist Capaino Works for Developers That Closed LICH Hospital and St Vincent's

Capalino, Advance and Bertha Lewis All Are Working to Stop the East 91st Marine Transfer Station

Lobbyist shoots to #1 in NYC after backing de Blasio for mayor (NYP) A veteran lobbyist who was a major supporter of Bill de Blasio’s run for mayor in 2013 saw his business nearly double in 2014 after his pal was elected, records show. Jim Capalino reported hauling in $8.2 million from 237 clients last year — up from the $4.6 million earned by his downtown Manhattan firm during the last year of the Bloomberg administration in 2013. The firm also signed 69 new clients, according to records released Monday by the City Clerk. Capalino’s surge was enough to dethrone the city’s perennial No. 1 lobbyist — Suri Kasirer, of Kasirer Consulting, whose billings also rose, from $6.6 million to $7.7 million.Among the new clients that swarmed to Capalino + Co. were a number trying to change the mayor’s position on public projects, including Asphalt Green. The group has been engaged in a protracted fight over the East 91st Street Marine Transfer Station that is under construction near Gracie Mansion. It reported hiring Capalino’s firm to limit the impact of construction and long-term operations of the future trash site, which the mayor has supported. Uber, which wants to avoid further city-imposed regulations as it competes with the yellow-cab industry, also hired Capalino.

“Picking the mayor has helped his business explode, but he’s always been very competent,” fellow lobbyist Hank Sheinkopf said of Capalino. Capalino hosted two fund-raisers for de Blasio’s successful campaign — including a Roosevelt Hotel bash featuring former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in October 2013 — where he was listed as a co-chair expected to bring in at least $25,000. Kasirer was also a $25,000 co-chair at the event, which pulled in over $1 million for de Blasio.He has since donated to the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, a nonprofit arm of City Hall chaired by de Blasio’s wife, Chirlane McCray. Among other top lobbying firms, Pitta Bishop Del Giorno & Giblin — which consulted on Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito’s campaign for the top council spot — also boosted its billings after backing a winner. The firm climbed from seventh place in 2013 — with $2.1 million in business — to fourth place in 2014, with $3.3 million in billings. * Lobbying Report

Closing LICH Hospital Another Death
With LICH in Limbo, A 20 Minute Wait for an Ambulance Leads to a Death in Red Hook
De Blasio Used #LICH as a Political Prop, Angry Ex-Supporters Say(DNAINFO)

* Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced an agreement with GW Pharmaceuticals to develop clinical trials using an ingredient derived from marijuana aimed at children with epilepsy, but advocates say the plan doesn’t go far enough, State of Politics reports: http://goo.gl/YfWRzw

By convincing the federal government to grant a Medicaid waiver, what Cuomo had done was to secure a matching fund, not a grant.

* De Blasio said he has no regrets about declaring Long Island College Hospital saved, even though the Brooklyn hospital later announced it would shutter all but its emergency department, the Observer reports: http://goo.gl/t65UJP

SUNY Says LICH Hospital to Close Thursday

No Full Service Hospital or Historic Victory

SUNY said that talks with the No. 2 bidder to take over the Long Island College Hospital site—The Peebles Corp.—have been "serious and increasingly productive,” the Daily News reports:
Despite de Blasio promises, troubled hospital is closing down (Fox 5) * SUNY releases closure details for LICH in Brooklyn Brooklyn Daily Eagle* Brooklyn: LICH Hospital To Close Next Friday Yeshiva World News *Long Island College Hospital Set To Shut Down On May 22(WCBS) The hospital said on Friday that all patients will be discharged and transferred to other hospitals and long term care facilities next Thursday. Mayor Bill de Blasio tried to stop the closure, and it did seem just months ago that he’d managed to save LICH, but on May 22 the SUNY Downstate facility will close it’s doors for good after a deal between LICH’s owner and Brooklyn Health Partners fell apart last week, 1010 WINS reported. The hospital stopped accepting 911 ambulances to the its emergency room this past Thursday. LICH is still accepting walk-in patients for medical screening and stabilizing treatment until the hospital’s closure on Thursday at 7 a.m. Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was elected in part on a vow to save Long Island College Hospital, previously said he is concerned about the extra amount of time ambulances will now have to travel . “I was concerned when this happened last year, and we fought to correct the situation,” de Blasio said. “And look, I think what we have to do here is get the long-term health care provider in place immediately, and that’s going to allow us then to take the other steps to secure health care for the communit “I’m confident that there’s going to be a strong plan that will provide substantial health care for the community that will be financially viable for the long term,” the mayor *SUNY Releases Closure Plan for LICH(NY1) *Long Island College Hospital to close May 22(WPIX) .***Flashback SUNY, LICH advocates reach historic hospital deal in Brooklyn (Brooklyn Eagle) * Politics vs arithmetic. Math wins. // Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn slated to close May 22(Newsday)

‏@SalAlbaneseNYC

LICH no longer functioning as full service hospital Feb DEB announced " great victory" saving LICH I expected DEB to chain himself to door

More On Closing LICH

* A deal was tentatively reached on Long Island College Hospital that will shutter all services except for the emergency department starting at midnight, Crain’s reports: http://goo.gl/kq4efc
LICH advocates strike a last-minute deal(Capital)
Jim Walden has “a binding agreement with the Peebles group”

Competing bidders for Long Island College Hospital have one more day to reach an agreement for providing healthcare on the site before its owners close the hospital down on Thursday, May 22, The Real Deal reports: http://goo.gl/IekgdX Even the Doctors Are Leaving New York . . .
Doctors trained in New York State are leaving in droves in part because of the high medical-liability insurance costs and the trend could hurt the state’s economy as well as the healthcare system, writes Dr. Andrew Kleinman, president of the Medical Society of the State of New York, in the Post

.

De Blasio: LICH Deal 'A Truly Historic Moment' - NY1(49 Days Ago)

Winning Bid Take Over Long Island College Hospital Falls Apart (10 Days Ago)

Mr. Mayor These Men Mad History Not You

Big plans, weak foundation (NYDN) De Blasio's troubling pattern of grand pronouncements followed by shakier particulars* "The Statue of Liberty will be showered with one million rose petals for the 70th anniversary of D-Day"

.

SUNY BHP LICH Deal DOA, de Blasio Now Pushing for Mixed Use Hospital . . .

LICH Plan B: Less of A Full Scale Hospital
Was BHP Designed to Fail? So Real Estate Can Get the Land

Monday
De Blasio vs. de Blasio
The Daily News writes that last summer Mayor Bill de Blasio was trying to block SUNY from selling Long Island College Hospital to developers who planned a mix of medical services and housing, but now he’s urging SUNY to go through with a practically identical deal: "The fight over Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital took a bizarre turn this weekend, as police arrested mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio on the steps of City Hall during a protest against the actions of Mayor Bill de Blasio."

Friday BHP Still Alive
Despite rumors of death #LICH bidder BHP still in the game. #Brooklyn court accepts $25 million deposit. #saveLICH
* SUNY Downstate has moved on to negotiating with another developer for Long Island College Hospital, but that doesn't mean the original winning bidder is giving up.* The end of the full-service hospital in #CobbleHill #LICH (Capital)* Crowd expected for BHP's #LICH hearing in #Brooklyn Thurs morning. No development ever surprising in #saveLICH case.

More About Closing Hospitals, LICH

Who is Fighting to Keep LICH A Full Service Hospital, Activist, Pols or the Community?

LICH follies (NYDN Ed)

Judge Baynes turns the closing of a Brooklyn hospital into a circus

A Real Dying Need Clouded By the New NYC Politics
The NYP is their quest to turn over another hospital to real estate developers and their cluelessness of what is really going on at LICH Hospital gets to their point by miss-reading the facts. First the activists who want to changes the bidding process because of BHP's being rejected by SUNY are people who live in the community and want a full hospital. The activists who were their when the mayor then candidate got arrests, that the NYP is talking about. have gone on to other projects like the one at the airport and the fast food joints.

You have to ask the Advance Group or Bertha Lewis why they are not at the hospital with community residents who still want a full service hospital. While billions in government dollars go to private hospitals in the city, it is clear that the big hospital using the Berger commission have continued on the policy of closing neighborhood hospitals that serve the poor and middle class to get more of the government health care pie for the big guys. The local pols who were their during the elections have also left. Is there an on and off switch to protesting that we are missing in this town?* “Tale of Two Cities” narrative that de Blasio rode to election as mayor. He said children and low-income residents are not only at an economic disadvantage, but at a health disadvantage as well. “Bridging the chasm between 'two cities' and addressing growing inequity must include an honest and open discussion on disparities in housing, health and standards of living,” he said.

Runner Up Bid, Was An Offer They Could Not Refuse

Michael Benjamin ‏@SquarePegDem 2h

Surprise! De Blasio played a key role in abandoning the plan to preserve LICH as a full-service hospital via Capital:
Michael Benjamin ‏@SquarePegDem 1h

@SalAlbaneseNYC Recall election? FYI The next bidder is a Sharpton-connected developer used to navigating political shoals (eg, Barry's DC).
Sal Albanese ‏@SalAlbaneseNYC 1h

@SquarePegDem interesting bc I saw him on CNBC during election advocating DEB's candidacy for Mayor You may have hit on something

SUNY pulls out of its deal with #Brooklyn Health Partners in takeover of #LICH. Moves on to second bidder. BHP: "Despite SUNY's failure to produce important documents until late this weekend, BHP produced all requested documents." BHP also says it produced a 10% downpayment to close. BHP: "We are deeply disappointed that for the last 30 days SUNY has failed to negotiate in good faith."BHP says it is currently meeting with its attorneys to determine its next course of action. * #SUNY terminates talks with Brooklyn Health Partners over #LICH)NYDN) * SUNY Ends #LICH Talks with Brooklyn Health Partners. Will begin negotiations with Peebles Corp. (DNAINFO) * SUNY ends negotiations with top LICH bidder(CrainsNY) * SUNY officials rejected the bid by Brooklyn Health Partners for Long Island College Hospital and said SUNY plans to begin negotiating with second-place bidder Don Peebles, a real-estate developer, The Wall Street Journal reports:
*Court Date #LICH bidder BHP vs SUNY in #Brooklyn court Thursday morning. #saveLICH

* The U.S. Health and Human Services inspector general is calling for New York to repay $60.8 million in federal Medicaid reimbursement funds for costs not covered under the program relating to room and board for developmentally disabled people, the Associated Press reports: http://goo.gl/hrh9lM

Feds want NY to repay $60.8M in Medicaid reimbursements(NYP)

MondaySUNY Aims to Disqualify Leading LICH Bidder (WSJ) * Monday is likely the day the State University of New York pulls the plug on the No. 1 bidder for Long Island College Hospital. Brooklyn Health Partners has said it will submit a $25 million non-refundable payment to SUNY and provide proof it will have the financial backing to build a new full-scale hospital at the site. But Mayor de Blasio, state officials and two major health care unions have expressed great doubts BHP can follow through on its promises contained in its bid. The mayor has urged SUNY to begin talks with other bidders—something that could start as soon as Monday if SUNY disqualifies BHP’s bid, as many expect.* How not to save a Brooklyn hospital(CrainsNY) Unions, activists and Mayor Bill de Blasio fought to stop Long Island College Hospital's closure. Be careful what you wish for.
Saturday First, do no harm(NYDN Ed) Long Island College Hospital plans are falling apart* Down Payment Due Today on LICH Takeover(NY1)

* Some Mt. Sinai Hospital doctors are dropping patients with low-cost insurance plans under Obamacare, but it is unclear if it is part a broader push to squeeze out low-paying plans, the Times reports: http://goo.gl/PCimL4
* De Blasio played a key role in abandoning the plan to preserve Long Island College Hospital as a full-service hospital, even though he criticized his predecessor for allowing over a dozen hospitals to close, Capital New York reports: http://goo.gl/HHyqiy
* The United Hospital Fund provides a snapshot of state health insurance plans specializing in public programs like Medicaid and prepaid plans just before most components of Obamacare were implemented—in 2012 these plans grew dramatically in terms of enrollment, revenue, net income, and overall market share: http://goo.gl/KPFpwd

Friday LICH could temporarily close as part of settlement(Capital)A provision of a settlement reached by SUNY, labor unions and community groups, appears to allow state officials to close Long Island College Hospital if a deal to sell it cannot be reached within 90 days. The settlement, due to be released in court this afternoon, allows SUNY to "exit operations ... without interference" in May, according to a statement from Governor Andrew Cuomo.

Thursday
amNewYork writes that Mayor Bill de Blasio is right to ask SUNY to choose a different bidder for Long Island College hospital because what that section of Brooklyn needs is a smartly downsized LICH:* SUNY letter outlines problems with B.H.P. bid(Capital) SUNY says it is unclear who will run the hospital * LICH bidder Peebles wants to buy Clippers too via @capitalnewyork * Would-be developer of LICH sues SUNY, via @dangeiger79 * Winning LICH bidder sues SUNY(Capital) *SUNY letter outlines problems with B.H.P. bid(Capital)

Wednesday Update
De Blasio, state officials and two healthcare unions all but acknowledged that Brooklyn Health Partners has little ability to follow through on its pledge to maintain a hospital at the Long Island College Hospital site in Brooklyn, the Daily News writes: * The Daily News writes that the planned buyout of Long Island College Hospital by Brooklyn Health Partners turns out to be every bit as shaky as it appeared: * Saving LICH is a ‘fantasyland’: state source(NYDN) * Brooklyn Health Partners: Despite mayor's concerns, LICH rescue plan will succeed (NYDN) * \Saving LICH is a ‘fantasyland’: state source(NYDN) * De Blasio: ‘Real concerns’ about winning LICH bid(Capital) * Latest Plan to Save LICH Reportedly in Jeopardy(NY1) * A deal flatlines (NYDN Ed) Unsurprisingly, the unrealistic rescue plan for Long Island College Hospital is unraveling

Patients Fear Mt. Sinai Will Drop Low-Cost Insurance Plans(NYT)

Some doctors at New York City’s biggest private hospital system appear to no longer accept certain plans, forcing some patients to change doctors.

State officials seem to be having second thoughts about the possible developers of Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn and were reconsidering the second-place bidder Reconsidering the Saviors of a Hospital(Powell, NYT)An obscure development group, Brooklyn Health Partners, which has never built anything in New York or tossed up anything remotely as complex as a hospital, plans to plunk a $25 million down payment. Its partner, Quorum Health Resources, is an out-of-state hospital management chain that has yet to apply for state certification. State officials are having second thoughts.

By late Monday, they were backpedaling and considering turning to the second-place finisher, whose proposal offers less than a full-scale hospital. In its application, Brooklyn Health Partners noted it was “uncontradictable” that a full-service hospital would thrive. That sounds cool. Unfortunately, on the next page, the applicant notes it plans to ask Quorum to assess the market and conduct “a meaningful community needs assessment.” NEXT UP? -- Second-place bidder on Brooklyn hospital has ties to New York’s political establishment -- Capital’s Laura Nahmias: If negotiations between SUNY and Brooklyn Health Partners over purchasing LICH fall through, the right to bid will fall to the Peebles Corporation, which is helmed by Don Peebles, a wealthy real estate developer with ties to SUNY chairman H. Carl McCall, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Public Advocate Letitia James.* De Blasio: ‘Real concerns’ about winning LICH bid(Capital) * Bid for full-scale hospital to replace LICH collapsing (NYDN)

Developers plan to build residential buildings on top of new medical facility in place of Long Island College Hospital(NYDN) Brooklyn Health Partners is planning to build residential buildings on top of a full-service hospital with 300 to 400 beds in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. The site’s would-be developers will pay the State College of New York, which owns the site, $250 million.

The odd math behind the LICH bidding process(Capital)

State: LICH will likely close May 23(Brooklyn Paper)

Long Island College Hospital Update
Top LICH bidder won't make May deadline(Capital) * A losing bidder for Long Island College Hospital claims that the winner has underestimated the costs of construction, and says the the real sum—at more than a $1 billion—is far higher, Crain’s reports

‏@bradlander

Very disturbed by report of developer's secret plan for 50-story housing towers as part of LICH. Not gonna happen on our watch.

Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH

Is the LICH Hospital Plan A Real Deal?
An ‘optimistic’ real estate proposal for LICH(Capital)

How plausible is Brooklyn Health Partners' plan to build 1,000 new housing units? New high-rise residential tower could push #LICH development price tag to nearly $1 billion

* A losing bidder for Long Island College Hospital claims that the winner has underestimated the costs of construction, and says the the real sum—at more than a $1 billion—is far higher, Crain’s reports: http://goo.gl/ujH31t

City’s hospital specialists are raking in millions of dollars(NYP)
* Cuomo needs to put an end to the drama surrounding Long Island College Hospital remaining a full-service hospital before millions of dollars are wasted, the Post’s Bob McManus writes: http://goo.gl/3nhPko

Take the money and run (NYDN Ed)

SUNY must wash its hands of the money-losing Long Island College Hospital

Feds who say Brooklyn is a hotspot for Medicare fraud are obviously unfamiliar with artisanal PT http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/28/business/one-therapist-4-million-in-2012-medicare-billing.html?hpw&rref=business&_r=0 …
LICH New Owners Chosen by SUNY
Big Win for the New Mayor

SUNY Selects Full Service Hospital Proposal for LICH
#LICH winning bid promises “bridge facility” with 100-bed hospital with ER, ICU. Agencies need to approve. New hospital at LICH: 'Brooklyn Health Partners' chosen by SUNY to buy Long Island College Hospital(Brooklyn Daily Eagel) Under the plan, Brooklyn Health Partners would build a new 300-400 bed full-service hospital in the Fuller and Othmer Pavilions and medical offices in the Polhemus building and part of the Amity Pavilion. It would create a mixed-use “medical district” in the surrounding sites with medical offices, residential and commercial development. * California investors to take over LICH after $250M bid(NYP) * Long Island College Hospital Names Choice for the Future(NYT) Brooklyn Health Partners, a minority-owned business, met the demands of community and union groups by promising to keep the hospital operating with full service.* Winning Bid Sees a Future for LICH(WSJ) * Brooklyn Health Partners scored the highest with its bid for Long Island College Hospital, and SUNY officials have 30 days from today to negotiate a deal to transfer ownership, Crain’s reports * Long Island College Hospital may be saved(NYDN) The state wanted to close money-losing LICH, but unions and community groups sued to stop it, as de Blasio was arrested during his campaign while protesting against a shutdown.

LICH Pick Paid $95 M to the Feds for Fraud

Firm Picked to Run LICH Paid $95M to Settle Medicare Fraud Suit(DNAINFO) The company selected to run the proposed new Long Island College Hospital paid nearly $100 million in fines to the feds to settle accusations it systematically defrauded the U.S. health care system for nearly 15 years, DNAinfo New York has learned. The U.S. Justice Department alleged that Quorum Health kept two sets of books on its Medicare costs from 1985 to 1999 — one of which contained inflated, reimbursable medical costs, which it presented to the government for payment. And in a separate case, Quorum was accused of wrongdoing at an Alabama Hospital involving misallocated costs to inflate government payouts.

More About Closing Hospitals

Protest filed over LICH bid

Derek Oubre, who was part of the Brooklyn Health Partners bid to redevelop Long Island College Hospital in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, until he left the group March 14, has lodged a complaint with SUNY over the organization's bid. Mr. Oubre, who has put in his own proposal, claims that Brooklyn Health Partners, the highest-scoring bidder, underestimated the cost of renovating the hospital’s buildings to create a 300- to 400-bed facility. [Crain’s Health Pulse Health Pulse Subscription Needed:

]

Plus: Brooklyn Hospital Partners plans on building 50-story residential towers on the Long Island College Hospital campus. [Crain’s New York Business]

LICH bidder has ties to SUNY board chair(CrainsNY)

Don Peebles, a developer who is part of a team that is bidding to redevelop Long Island College Hospital's Cobble HIll, Brooklyn, campus has a relationship with H. Carl McCall, chairman of the SUNY board of directors.In 2002, when Mr. McCall was running for governor, Mr. Peebles attended a $500-a-head fundraiser for him in Washington, D.C. Mr. Peebles told The New York Times that Mr. McCall was part of a wave of "African-American candidates who are looking at the issues, and who are not activist but are candidates who are going to govern and lead." Mr. Peebles' Miami-based company gave $1,000 to Mr. McCall's campaign committee in September of that year, records show. The Real Deal reported that Mr. McCall had "invested in Peebles' projects." But it is unclear from the article whether the author meant that Mr. McCall had personally invested money with Mr. Peebles, or whether he had invested pension fund money as comptroller. A SUNY spokesman said Mr. McCall never personally invested any money with Mr. Peebles, and did not believe he invested any pension fund d

After Lossing Millions With LICH Hospital McCall Stays On At SUNY

Carl McCall was reappointed as chair of the SUNY Board of Trustees.

LICH Leftovers: This is the second in a series of posts on the 2013 New York City mayor's race and the issues...

Errol Louis ‏@errollouis

@SalAlbaneseNYC is not happy about LICH @HuffPostNY "LICH already served its purpose as de Blasio's campaign prop."

Where is the Investigation? Why Did SUNY Buy LICH?

Why Did SUNY Buy LICH for SUNY $205,350,000 owned by Continuum Health Partners If They Never Had the Resources to support A Hospital? Now the WSJ Reports the Growing Debt of the Hospital is More Than A Real Estate Deal Will Take In

New Plan Includes 1000 Apartments

The hospital would be operated by Quorum Health Resources. Most important to local residents, a “bridge facility” would open immediately, which would include a 100-bed hospital with ER, ambulatory care, ICU and other medical services. Brooklyn Health Partners has also promised to continue to employ at least 300 healthcare workers to provide care during the bridge operation of the hospital, and an additional 2,000 when the new hospital opens. On the real estate side, the proposal includes 1,000 units of residential development, 30 percent affordable, along with some park space. The team will seek to rezone the non-core properties, but there is no assurance the zoning changes will be approved.* LICH Bid Winner to Maintain Full-Service Hospital(NY1) * Brooklyn Health Partners Selected to Run LICH(WSJ) * Bidder pledging full service hospital tapped to take over LICH(NYDN)

Brezenoff the Mayor's Labor Advisor, Continuum Health Partners Gets Rid of A Failing Hospital With Not Blame

Hamill: Long Island College Hospital merged to death - NY Daily News(2013) SUNY Downstate Medical Center deal with LICH absorbed $300 million in LICH red ink run up by a hospital consortium called Continuum Health Partners. Continuum is run by a ruthless powerbroker named Stanley Brezenoff whose nickname at LICH is Darth Vader. Brezenoff is a quintessential member of what muckraker Jack Newfield called The Permanent Government of New York. This professional politico was appointed by Mayor Ed Koch to run the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp., the feudal lord of a medical fiefdom within the city’s patronage-larded permanent government. While in that post, Brezenoff compiled a Rolodex listing all the shadowy players in the city, state and federal medical rackets swimming in Medicaid and Medicare dollars
More about hospital closings

9 Bids to Save LICH

SUNY announces nine bidders now vying for LICH(Capital) SUNY officials announced this morning that they had received nine bids to take over Long Island College Hospital.The bids, which include five new bidders, were submitted to SUNY on Wednesday and are now being reviewed.The new bids come one month after SUNY agreed to rewrite its request for proposals, and they more provide far more options than had been available to SUNY in the past. For months, the discussion revolved around bids submitted by the Fortis Property Group, Peebles In addition to those four bidders, who had originally proposed to take over the troubled Cobble Hill hospital, five new players have now joined the fray: Brooklyn Health Partners, Lana Acquisitions, Prime Healthcare Services, Trindade Value Partners, and The Chetrit Group.* Brooklyn’s Interfaith Medical Center has tentatively restructured its leadership as part of its bankruptcy plan, naming Melany Cyganowski chief restructuring officer and Steve Korf interim CEO, City & State reports:
* Optimism and confusion over LICH proposals(Capital) Uncertainty over whether an out-of-state bidder could be licensed quickly * Truce after LICH activists claim bid rigging(Brooklyn Paper) * State takes over Interfaith, promises bailout(Brooklyn Paper) The state has installed its own management at the beleaguered Bedford-Stuyvesant hospital and offered up $20-30-million to keep it afloat, a hospital spokeswoman said.* Prognosis negative: LICH advocates slam Related, Fortis overhaul plans(Brooklyn Paper)

Berlin Rosen Helped de Blasio Get Arrested As A Campaign Prop Protesting the Closing of LICH Hospital
Then Broke the Law Using the Mayor's Slush Fund PAC One New York

Mayor Says He Will Continue to Seek Advice from Top Adviserin Wake of NY1 Report (NY1) In the wake of a in-depth NY1 report last week, the mayor says he will continue to seek advice from a top adviser despite criticism of their close relationship. Jonathan Rosen runs the public relations firm BerlinRosen and advises private clients with business before the city while also acting as a close advisor to the mayor. Because Rosen is not a registered lobbyist, he does not have to disclose his clients, but the mayor said there's no conflict of interest. "Jonathan is someone I worked with for years. He is a close friend, a close adviser going back many, many years, and he'll continue to be," de Blasio said. "He doesn't represent the interests of his clients when he talks to me. He is someone who I turn to advice on a whole host of issues that have nothing to do with his clients." * NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said he does not consider it a conflict when he seeks advice from Jonathan Rosen, a political consultant and campaign strategist who represents a host of clients who lobby City Hall on a variety of issues.* In light of the NY1 report on the close relationship between de Blasio and Rosen, Sen. Tony Avella has introduced a bill that would bar lobbyists from also being political consultants.

Berlin Rosen Runs the Mayor's PAC One New York Which Mailed to Reduce Its Clients Negatives in Assembly Race

Berlin Rosen who worked for 52AD candidate Sikora and the PAC One NY, use to the PAC to send out to the voters of the district a misleading letter that a developers ER would be a good substitute for the closed LICH. Rosen's assembly candidate was arrested during the 2013 mayor's race along with de Blasio protesting the closing of the LICH Hospital. The Brooklyn Eagle called Berlin Rosen PAC mailing the dark money mailing, claiming the closed LICH hospital developer would build an emergency room that would meet the community’s health care needs. Doctors and community leader have called that claim an outright lie. Carroll Gardens Association - Cover-Up of Members' Dark Money LICH Mailing

Community Leaders Blamed Berlin Rosen Candidate Sikora (de Blasio campaign worker) for de Blasio Not Living Up to His Campaign Promise of Keeping LICH Hospital Open

Bill de Blasio arrested at SUNY protest - NY Daily News (NYDN) New York City Mayoral Candidate Bill DiBlasio and a nurse are arrested at protest outside the State University of New York offices on West 42nd st. Hospital workers were protesting the planned closing Long Island City Hospital in Brooklyn. “We’re going to lose Long Island College Hospital in a matter of weeks if we don’t act now ... People are going to be much sicker in this city if we keep losing hospitals,” de Blasio said as he was led away in handcuffs. “This is about fighting for our hospitals. We have to save them* Mayor de Blasio Is Quietly Soliciting Donations for Future Policy Battles (NYT) Mr. de Blasio and his fund-raising team have quietly solicited large contributions in recent weeks from donors in the mayor’s inner circle, according to three people who requested anonymity to describe moves by the administration that were not yet intended to be public.

Two LICH Bids Offer Few Emergency Room Beds and Bays: Sources and Officials(DnaInfo)

The Brooklyn Hospital Center is proposing some 15 emergency room bays for both adult and pediatric cases and about 10 “observational” beds in its 24-hour freestanding emergency department, officials told a community meeting in Red Hook on Tuesday night that was organized by the hospital. Another proposal from Fortis Property Group, which is partnering with NYU Langone Medical Center, would have four “observational” beds and 10 to 12 ER bays, according to sources familiar with the plan.

* The Daily News writes that the bidding plan designed to keep Long Island College Hospital a full-service hospital could replace one money-losing white elephant with another: http://goo.gl/VKyJzp

Why Did SUNY Buy A Failed Hospital It Could Not Run?

Errol Lewis Why Did SUNY Take LICH in the First Place?

Carl McCall, chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees blames former governor Paterson for providing the funds to buy the hospital, after a comptroller report told the state not to buy the hospital. (NY1 Interview) The State University of New York bought LICH in 2009. Big mistake: “This has been very costly for us,” says H. Carl McCall, chairman of SUNY’s board of trustees and a master of understatement — for “costly” scarcely describes it. Mayor cuffed by his own crusade(Mcmanus, NYP)

Brezenoff the Mayor's Labor Advisor, Continuum Health Partners Gets Rid of A Failing Hospital With Not Blame

Hamill: Mayor de Blasio's choice of Stanley Brezenoff as adviser on labor deals a poor one (NYDN)

When he left HHC, Brezenoff took his Rolodex with him and wound up heading Continuum, of which Beth Israel is the mothership with satellites like Roosevelt Hospital, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, LICH and St. Luke’s Hospital.Under Continuum, the once-profitable LICH ran up $300 million in debt from pure administrative malpractice. And then Brezenoff brokered the smelly SUNY Downstate merger, with state taxpayers absorbing the $300 million debt.* “Brezenoff is a poster boy for what the late great Jack Newfield called the Permanent Government,” says one doctor who has worked at LICH for 30 years and lives in the community. “He made his political bones in the Koch administration as the head of Health and Hospital Corp.”

“Brezenoff is a poster boy for what the late great Jack Newfield called the Permanent Government”

LEFT TO SUFFER: Kings County patients forced to wait 2 HOURS in emergency room to see a doctor(NYDN)Kings County Hospital ER wait times soar despite drop in patients

Council Passes Sick Pay
The New York City Council approved an expanded paid-sick leave bill but some members expressed concerns about the impact it would have on small businesses, Crain’s writes: * The NYC Council advanced two of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature initiatives, on sick pay and taxing the rich, giving the Democrat a boost in his second month in office. * New York City Council Swiftly Passes Bill to Extend Paid Sick Days(NYT) The more emphatically liberal Council expanded the law to require businesses with five or more employees to provide up to five paid days off a year.* City Council passes sick-leave bill(NYP) * Hospital acquisitions in the age of Obamacare(Capital) The Mount Sinai Continuum deal was about scale more than brand
More About Closing NYC Hospitals

What Bid Rigging At Coney Island Hospital?

Hospital bid-rigger allowed to stay on job for years(NYP) An associate director at Coney Island Hospital caught trying to rig bids in 2010 was somehow allowed to stay on the job through late 2013, records show.
Michael Chapman’s misconduct and the snail-paced response were only publicly disclosed Thursday when the Conflicts of Interest Board declined to impose penalties on him — saying it was because he had already resigned. Instead, the ethics board issued a warning letter revealing that Chapman had been caught showing a bid from one hospital vendor to another vendor in April 2010.* @TishJames Town Hall #Brooklyn has only 1/3 as many hospital beds per resident as Manhattan #saveInterfaith #saveLICH http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles
More About Closing Hospitals And HHC

Aviles: HHC deserves $2 billion of New York's Medicaid waiver mone y

Healthcare-Agency Deficit Faces Further Expansion(WSJ) The New York City Health and Hospitals Corp., the country's largest municipal healthcare organization, faces a $430 million deficit that could balloon by hundreds of millions of dollars more, depending on the outcome of labor talks, its president said.

de Blasio, Cuomo, SUNY, reach deal on fate of LICH - But Details May Tell A Different Story

Settlement Uncertain?
Developing: LICH Settlement Awaits Judge's Final Approval(NY1) * Cuomo touts LICH deal as "victory for all parties involved & paves the way for putting a long-term, sustainable health care facility" in BK * BREAKING: Settlement ends all pending and future litigation and allows SUNY to exit operations of hospital no later than May. Cuomo, de Blasio, SUNY announce agreement to end all litigation over LICH, will ultimately accept a takeover bid from developers. * QUOTE OF THE DAY: “Today's agreement is a victory for all parties involved and paves the way for putting a long-term, sustainable health care facility in place for the residents of Brooklyn. We are in the midst of a health care transformation here in New York State, and the reality is that yesterday's costly, inefficient models of delivering service are no longer viable options for tomorrow. Under the terms of today's agreement, SUNY is reopening the solicitation process to find a new operator for LICH that will guide the facility as it modernizes and continues its important mission of serving New Yorkers.” – Gov. Andrew Cuomo on a new Long Island College Hospital settlement.* Cuomo, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and SUNY’s Carl McCall announced a settlement for Long Island College Hospital to keep health care at the site but under a new operator, WABC reports: * De Blasio filled a large pothole in Queens and announced that the city has filled more than twice as many potholes around the city so far this year, the Daily News reports: * Developing: LICH Settlement Awaits Judge's Final Approval (NY1)
* Deal Reached on Litigation Over Long Island College Hospital(NYT) Under a settlement, the State University of New York would have to solicit new bids for the troubled hospital, which unions and community organizations are fighting to keep open.* Cuomo, de Blasio reach deal on sickly LICH(NYP) * Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio attended a private party at the Harvard Club last night where both talked about the work they did to secure the $8 billion Medicaid waiver from the federal government that helped save LICH, the Wall Street Journal reports: * Full details of the #SUNY - #LICH hospital deal unveiled Friday in #Brooklyn Eagle * #Speedgate Hangs Over Murky LICH Deal
*De Blasio details new LICH agreement(CrainsNY) * Settlement on LICH Does Not Guarantee Full Service Hospital (DNAINFO) * Officials Declare Victory in LICH Deal, but Details May Not Tell Same Story(NY1) * De Blasio celebrates an uncertain LICH deal(Capital)

The Backroom Manufactured Split Appears
For the first time, there appears to be a split between the labor unions and the community advocates fighting to save Long Island College Hospital.
Rift opens over LICH(Capital) Hospital supporters split for the first time over possible development deals * A prescription for Bill (NYP Ed) Gov. Cuomo scored a victory Thursday, winning federal approval for a Medicaid waiver that will mean $8 billion in funding to help transform several hospitals — including the cash-strapped Brookdale, Interfaith and Wyckoff Heights hospitals in Brooklyn — into “sustainable” models that meet the health-care needs of their communities. That still leaves Long Island College Hospital, which SUNY wants to shut and sell.* What makes up nearly all the cost of #preschool? Pay, Retirement & health benefits for union members * The Daily News writes that with a Medicaid waiver in hand, Gov. Andrew Cuomo can shut down failing hospitals in favor of non-hospital facilities, something that will be a good thing, contrary to the rhetoric from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and others: * A bidder for Long Island College Hospital alleged that a rival bidder has illegally increased its bid for the Brooklyn medical complex to match their bid, Crain’s reports:

The LICH Drama, Charted

A LICH drama, charted(Capital) For 14 months, SUNY has tried to rid itself of the struggling Brooklyn hospital, which is costing the state $13 million per month. After the election of a mayor who pledged to save the hospital, and a series of courtroom battles, a string of dramatic closed-door meetings and lots sniping in the press, a resolution is near. SUNY will reopen a bidding process one last time for redevelopment of the site. The unions and community groups will drop their lawsuits. The new request for proposals will be weighted toward the bidder offering the most health care. When SUNY last requested proposals, bids came in from Brooklyn Hospital, Fortis Property Group, Don Peebles and the Chinese Community Accountable Care Organization. All four contemplated a scaled-down LICH and a mix of health care and residential housing.

HHC Puts Their Bid In for A Piece of the 8 Billion Federal Medicaid Waver
City’s public hospitals facing billion-dollar deficits(Capital) The city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation is facing a $430 million budget gap for fiscal year 2015, its president told the City Council’s health committee on Monday. That gap is expected to triple to nearly $1.4 billion by 2018, said H.H.C. president Alan Aviles, who will soon be leaving the nation’s largest municipal hospital system.New York is likely to keep its title as the state with the costliest Medicaid program, according to a new analysis from state comptroller Tom DiNapoli.

Daily News Says Keeping A Full Service LICH Would Take A Miracle

Fantasyland(NYDN) To hear Mayor de Blasio’s crowing on Friday, he has led a history-making campaign that not only “saved” Long Island College Hospital, but turned a tide of hospital closures across the city. Wow. For de Blasio and fellow crusaders, including Public Advocate Letitia James, to come remotely close to keeping a full-service hospital at the LICH site will take a gob-smacking miracle. Far more likely, the legal settlement they reached with the State University of New York on Friday will result in LICH being sold and converted to a mixture of residential housing and outpatient medical services, including perhaps a free-standing emergency room. This is almost exactly what SUNY officials tried to do last summer, before then-Public Advocate de Blasio & Co. blocked them in court.*Fantasyland (NYDN)
On Long Island College Hospital, de Blasio and his allies waste months and millions before bowing to economic reality* Interfaith Needs to Remain a Full-Service Hospital, Supporters Say(DNAINFO)

Supporters want Interfaith to remain full-service despite the governor's plan to alter hospitals.

Question to the Daily News: Were Are the Nearby Hospitals? St Vincent's Hospital Was But It is Closed
In reality, allowing LICH to close and replacing it with outpatient clinics and primary care would be good for the public’s health — while saving money and bolstering the finances of nearby hospitals, including SUNY Downstate Medical Center. In reality, Brooklyn has more hospital capacity than it needs — thanks to medical advances and the fact that Brooklynites increasingly seek out what hospital care they need in Manhattan.

Why Would SUNY Buy LICH If It is Losing Millions For the Past 20 Years?
What the deal cannot change is the economic and medical forces that have put LICH in the red for the past 20 years, and make it all but impossible for a hospital to survive there.SUNY Acquires $205M in Prime Real Estate | Brownstoner SUNY bought 18 separate LICH properties owned by Continuum Health Partners *Judge: Continuum Health Partners Must Manage Long Island College Hospital * State Controller Thomas DiNapoli did an audit in 2011 that said debt was too much for Downstate to handle. This merger should never have been approved. Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn May Close - NYTimes.com * Hamill: Mayor de Blasio's choice of Stanley Brezenoff as adviser on labor deals a poor one(NYDN) Brezenoff, who was appointed to counsel the mayor on labor contracts left unresolved by Bloomberg, fed Long Island College Hospital a slow poison that is destroying it.* Capital Health Care: Next up, Interfaith and H.H.C.(Capital)

‏@SalAlbaneseNYC @capitalnewyork don't get how this is different from the proposals that people were protesting issue was LICH's future as a full serv hosp

Closing LICH

De Blasio reportedly getting involved in LICH case; SUNY contempt hearing on hold(Daily Eagle)

Three Struggling Brooklyn Hospitals Saved?
But Downsized . . . Love to Know Real Deal

Monday Update
De Blasio Strikes Conciliatory Note on Pre-K(NYT)

he federal government has agreed in principle to grant an $8 billion Medicaid adjustment waiver for New York state, which, though it is $2 billion less than requested, the money could help stabilize cash-strapped Brooklyn hospitals Feds Sign Off On $8 Billion Waiver That Will Allow NYS To Spare 3 Brooklyn Hospitals, @nygovcuomo is set to announce(NYDN) Brookdale Hospital, Interfaith Medical Center and Wyckoff Hospital will now have the cash to change and survive, though in a different way, Cuomo aides said.* Feds give NY $8B for health care overhaul (CrainsNY) * State reaches deal for $8 billion Medicaid waiver(Capital) * Struggling City Hospitals May Be Saved After Cuomo Announces Re-Investment of Medicaid Funds (NY1) * Federal Agency and New York State Are in Accord Over $8 Billion Medicaid Waiver(NYT) * NY to Receive $8 Billion in Federal Healthcare Funds(WNYC) * Cuomo touts a waiver-funded overhaul of NY hospitals(Capital) * NY will receive $8 billion in federal healthcare funds, Cuomo wants to use it to transform the hospital system. (WNYC)

de Blasio hires the guy the Jedi Knights trying to save LICH Hospital nicknamed Darth Vader

Darth Brezenoff
Hamill: Mayor de Blasio's choice of Stanley Brezenoff as adviser on labor deals a poor one(NYDN) Brezenoff, who was appointed to counsel the mayor on labor contracts left unresolved by Bloomberg, fed Long Island College Hospital a slow poison that is destroying it. Many people in Brooklyn think Mayor de Blasio’s appointment of Stanley Brezenoff is bad medicine. Brezenoff, as former CEO of Continuum Health Industries, fed Long Island College Hospital a slow poison that is killing it. Now de Blasio names Brezenoff as a special unpaid adviser on 152 municipal labor contracts left unresolved by Mayor Bloomberg.

“Brezenoff is a poster boy for what the late great Jack Newfield called the Permanent Government,” says one doctor who has worked at LICH for 30 years and lives in the community. “He made his political bones in the Koch administration as the head of Health and Hospital Corp.” This doctor says he has known de Blasio for a long time. “I enjoy eating a dish of macaroni with Bill,” he says. “But it made me physically ill on New Year’s Day to learn he’d appointed Brezenoff, who wants LICH dead, to any post.” De Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvel wants people in Brooklyn to relax, saying, “Stan Brezenoff will serve as an unpaid adviser on labor relations with the administration.”

De Blasio spokesman Wiley Norvel wants people in Brooklyn to relax, saying, “Stan Brezenoff will serve as an unpaid adviser on labor relations with the administration.”

Under Brezenoff, the Brooklyn Heights hospital began to hemorrhage red ink. A $140 million bequest to the hospital by a Brooklyn Heights couple named Donald and Mildred Othmer vanished into Continuum. Community activists say Brezenoff wanted to close LICH. Many feared he’d sell the land for condo development. The staff and community protested. Then in 2010, Brezenoff used his vast political influence to persuade the state, under then-Gov. David Paterson, to subsume LICH into SUNY-Downstate Medical Center, absorbing $300 million in red ink. Meanwhile, in a piece of political sleight of hand even Boss Tweed would envy, Brezenoff’s Continuum stayed on to do $50 million a year in medical billing. De Blasio really needs to research Brezenoff’s role in trying to kill LICH. He can start by listening to some of the people who have been saving lives there for decades and have spent the past five years trying to save LICH from Brezenoff and SUNY Downstate. Brezenoff totally mismanaged LICH, and then dumped it on the state, $300 million in debt. When Continuum continued losing money, Mount Sinai Hospital bought it and gave Brezenoff a golden parachute. Now de Blasio brings Brezenoff back into city government? Scary.”

Why is NYU Langone Helping to Close LICH?

LICH Update: NYU Langone Joins Fortis to Rival Brooklyn Hospital Bid(Brooklyn Heights Blog) * Brooklyn Hospital makes bid for LICH(NYP)Crain’s New York reports that Brooklyn Hospital Center, as part of a group involving an unnamed private-equity firm and a developer, is offering to buy LICH. Their plan is to turn it into a comprehensive-care center with ambulance service and a 24/7 emergency room for non-critical illnesses.Inpatient services would be treated at Brooklyn Hospital, a mile away. Other outpatient services would be offered locally. The question is whether community activists can take yes for an answer. For their demand is that LICH be preserved as a full-service facility, and thus far they have prevailed in court.* Brooklyn Hospital, developer offer to buy Long Island College Hospital(NYDN) *New proposal to purchase LICH in Brooklyn(WSJ)The cure for a hospital (NYDN Ed)Good intentions won't keep LICH alive and kicking as a health-care center; a sane economic plan will* State advances vital cash to city hospital system(Capital)

Hospitals’ Dialysis Plan Is Under New Scrutiny(NYT)

A state council is set to vote on a deal to turn over dialysis at four of the city’s public hospitals to a for-profit franchise, though data show it did not perform as well as the hospitals themselves.

Struggling Brooklyn hospitals would be run as co-ops under new proposal: http://dnain.fo/1gV6kRB

Why NYC Hospitals Are Closing

If You Want to Understand Why So Many Hospitals Were Closed in NYC Read This Blog

New York University Langone Hires @joelhota http://on.wsj.com/19PALDc via @lisafleisher
* Former New York City mayoral candidate Joe Lhota, a Republican, is now chief of staff at NYU’s Langone Medical Center, a job recently held by Anthony Shorris, de Blasio’s new deputy mayor for operations, Capital New York writes:
Medical Center Hires Lhota as an Executive(NYT)

State considers size of Medicaid savings

House budget tweak costs N.Y. hospitals millions(Capital) Legislation which would have saved New York hospitals hundreds of millions of dollars a year, was quashed Wednesday, a victim of procedural hurdles and congressional budget scoring. Sen. Chuck Schumer, along with Sens. Robert Menendez and Sherrod Brown and more than a hundred members of the House, have been pushing for a one-year delay, and it seemed as if they had finally succeeded when language postponing the rule until October was included in the budget bill. But those billions that hospitals fear losing, the government fears paying. The impact on hospitals is expected to be significant. New York City's Health and Hospitals Corporation, already in financial trouble, estimates losses between $23 and $38 million a year or about 16 percent of all HHC's inpatient revenue.
.
* Surprise! #SUNY board puts off plan to turn #LICH into condos. #SaveLICH. * supporters jubilant, vow to push for full svc hospital after #SUNY's surprise vote puts condo plan on hold. * SUNY Votes Against Condo Plan for LICH and Looks for De Blasio's Next Move (WNYC) * SUNY Withdraws Development Plan for Troubled Brooklyn Hospital(NYT) * #LICH trustees try to throw ball to de Blasio's court, saying he should find $ to save hospital when he takes office * SUNY considers shift to hospital governing boards(Capital)

BREAKING 5PM: SUNY says they're "mustering resources" to try to resume ambulances to LICH tomorrow. I'm at LICH
After protests and legal threats, LICH will resume accepting ambulances(Capital)

Long Island College Hospital not accepting any new patients(NYP)
Only a day after its staunchest defender was elected mayor of New York City, financially troubled Long Island College Hospital decreed Wednesday that it would not accept any new patients…*
Ambulances are again arriving at LICH, court issues no new orders | Capital New ...
Judge Orders Owners And Advocates To Sit And Talk About Bed-Stuy Hospital Slated To Close (NY1)

SUNY Votes Table LICH Vote Wait 4 de Blasio

Surprise Vote Delay
Hospital Supporters Jubilant
Amid community outcry, SUNY has withdrawn its bid to build condominiums at the site of Long Island College Hospital

State: Medicaid money for homeless housing(Capital

SUNY tables Long Island College Hospital mall plan(CrainsNY) Trustees put on hold a plan to sell the campus to Fortis Property Group and turn it into a medical mall. SUNY trustees on Tuesday afternoon tabled a vote on a proposal to redevelop money-losing Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn. The proposal they were discussing would have sold the Cobble Hill campus to Fortis Property Group in order to develop it into a medical mall.

Where is the Investigation?

New Plan Includes Condominiums
Redevelopment Plan Is Considered for Long Island College Hospital(NYT)

SUNY officials said on Monday that a developer had offered to buy the hospital in Brooklyn and lease much of the block back to one or more health care providers.SUNY officials said a developer has offered to buy Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn and redevelop it to include condominiums, an urgent care center, a fitness center, and other non-hospital facilities

Hospital employees pocket millions in OT pay((NYP) New York State Hospital Data Exposes Big Markups, and Odd Bargains(NYT) As part of an effort to make health care pricing more transparent, the State Health Department released an online trove of hospitals’ median charges and costs for 1,400 conditions and procedures from 2009 to 2011. *The $500 Million Question at LICH(WSJ)“The liabilities highlight the challenges SUNY Downstate Medical Center faces as it tries to sell LICH to either a new operator or a developer.The SUNY Board of Trustees held a hearing in Manhattan on the fate of Long Island College Hospital.(NY1) * Condos Sell Fast at St. Vincent's Site(WSJ) St. Vincent's Hospital served the sick and the poor for more than 150 years in the heart of Greenwich Village. Now, condominiums under construction at the site have been selling quickly, developers say.* New York’s millionaire PACs(Capital) Eight committees ended the year with more than a million dollars on hand Friends of Silver: $3 million on hand
The committee associated with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver kept a steady balance through 2013. Expenses included paying the firm BerlinRosen, and he continued to pay the law firm of Stroock, Stroock and Laven, LLP, which he employed following the Vito Lopez scandal. His campaign account also supported several candidates, including Democrat John McManmon who lost his special election bid.

NY1: “It’s not a matter of mismanagement,” said SUNY Board Chairman Carl McCall. “LICH has never had the resources to provide the kind of support that that community wants and probably needs, and we did not have those resources either. And you say that the folks there are angry. They are angry, and I understand that. But we have a lot of people here in SUNY.” McCall said that there isn’t much that they can do right now because of the court case, but they are considering some proposals to turn the hospital into an urgent care facility and also possible condominiums." * #SaveLICH: SUNY Hearing, McCall Says Condos Possible *Growing Hospital Debt State University of New York officials say that Long Island College Hospital’s mounting financial liabilities have climbed to $500 million, far more than the proceeds expected from the sale of the property, the Journal writes* Many of New York City’s financially strapped hospitals are scrambling to sign up people for health care through the state exchange or through Medicaid, as they brace for $22 billion in federal cuts over the next eight years, The Wall Street Journal reports: * "SUNY chair Carl McCall to de Blasio re LICH: Transfer it from state to city "Maybe they can do a better job."* NYC hospitals suffer (and pay for) poor quality ratings from Medicare. (NY World)* Health commissioner pledges 'cost transparency' in hospitals(Capital) * How long can city hospitals stay a 'going concern'? | Capital New York

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Judge Orders LICH Fully Open

de Blasio Goes To A Hospital Closed In the Speakers District to Make Room for More Luxury HousingTo Continue His Good Press on the Issue

Susan Sarandon backs de Blasio at St. Vincent’s rally despite prior opposition(NYP) * Ahead of rally, Quinn surrogates will appear at St. Vincent's site to say de Blasio did nothing to save hospital, only lately took up cause.* Since 2000, 19 hospitals have closed across New York City http://tnat.in/o3BA1 * Crowd at de Blasio hospitals rally * @BillDeBlasio to lead ‘Hospitals Not Condos’ rally at former St. Vincent’s site today 12 noon w Belafonte, Sarandon

Pols Slapped for Closing A Hospitals

Christine Quinn Hospital Presser Gets Violent (NYO)

Council Speaker Christine Quinn’s press conference this morning devolved into violence, as State Senator Brad Hoylman was punched in the face and another Quinn supporter attacked during a heated showdown over hospital closings. Man who slapped Brad Hoylman: “My wife died two days ago... I had to travel an hour and a half to get to see her.” http://politicker.com/2013/08/christine-quinn-hospital-presser-gets-violent/ …
Cynthia Nixon says there will be an even larger rally at this spot, 11th st. & 6th Ave. on Aug. 29.

Bill de Blasio Defends Susan Sarandon’s Honor(NYO_

Brooklyn judge orders restoration of key services at LICH(Brooklyn Eagle)

Long Island College Hospital (LICH) supporters celebrated a victory in Cobble Hill late Friday after Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes ordered the immediate restoration of hospital services and staffing to the levels that were in place on July 19.

Yet another Queens hospital closing, another on critical list(Queens Crap)Health care in the borough continues to flatline one facility at a time, with Holliswood Hospital the latest to shutter its doors. The 127-bed private psychiatric hospital in Jamaica closed on Monday, August 12 due to financial troubles, said a hospital official. Current patients will begin to be discharged, and after an estimated one to two weeks, the site will close permanently.* An audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli estimates the state’s Medicaid program might have overpaid hospitals by as much as $31.1 million over a 34-month period for patients who died within a day of being admitted.

de Blasio Keeps Focus on Brooklyn Hospital, Green Cabs Back to the Drawing Board

Bill de Blasio Keeps Focus on Brooklyn Hospital(NYO)

_____________________________________
Keeping Hospital Open

LICH supporters demand 250K per day from state officials until services restored * New York State hospitals may bear the brunt of low Obamacare numbers (Capital)
NOBAMACARE — Low Enrollment Could Impact New York Hospitals — Capital’s Dan Goldberg: “[H]undreds of thousands of newly insured were supposed to be a boon for the state's 215 hospitals, and bring in an estimated $500 million in additional revenue… about 400,000 people would have to sign up for coverage by March 31. In the six weeks since the enrollment began, less than 25,000 have enrolled in private plans. Separately, Gov. Cuomo's latest budget predicted an additional 400,000 people will sign up for Medicaid in 2014. So far, about 26,000 have signed up.” http://goo.gl/PLZMvR
HOSPITAL PENALTIES — Capital’s Dan Goldberg: “A coalition of labor unions and neighborhood activists have asked a Supreme Court judge to fine state officials $250,000 each day until services at Long Island College Hospital are restored to the level they were in April. … The contempt motion will be litigated on Monday in front of Supreme Court Justice Johnny Lee Baynes in Brooklyn.” http://goo.gl/aNg47L
New York state hospitals could face budget gaps because of the lower-than-expected enrollment into the new Affordable Care Act, which was estimated to add $500 million in revenue, Capital New York writes: http://bit.ly/185iWTm Interfaith Medical Center bankruptcy ruling on hold pending mediation. #saveInterfaith #brooklyn #saveLICH... http://fb.me/OpTYPRpk
LICH IN A SQUEEZE — Brooklyn Hospital, taken over by SUNY, has 1,400 employees taking care of a dozen patients, according to its C.F.O. — Capital's Dan Goldberg: “This could lead to a tuition increase,” at SUNY campuses, said Board of Trustees Chairman H. Carl McCall. “I want to make it clear that programs and services could go away and [people] will spend more on tuition to keep hospitals open in Brooklyn.” http://goo.gl/ckPJrD

More On Closing Hospitals

____________________________________
Hospital Shut Down?

BREAKING 5PM: SUNY says they're "mustering resources" to try to resume ambulances to LICH tomorrow. I'm at LICH
After protests and legal threats, LICH will resume accepting ambulances(Capital)

NY to address troubled Brooklyn hospitals(CrainNY)

Stephen Berger, former chair of a panel that ordered the closure of several failing New York City hospitals, will lead efforts to determine a prognosis for ailing Brooklyn hospitals.

Bloomberg Reduces Mothers Little Helpers At City Hospitals

Mike cracks down on painkiller pills(NYP) * New York City to Restrict Prescription Painkillers in Public Hospitals’ Emergency Rooms(NYT) Bloomberg announced that New York City municipal hospitals are going to start restricting patients to a three-day supply of prescription painkillers to combat the abuse of opioids in emergency rooms * Farley: ‘Severe’ Strain Of Flu Reaches Epidemic Proportions (WSBCS) * Bloomberg Slaps Down Criticism of Painkiller Restriction Plan(NYO) * Bloomberg Cracking Down on Easy-Access Painkillers(NY Mag) * No St Vincents, Sandy, Flu Hospitals Over Crowded Strained (Troy Artist)

Stretchers in the Hallways

1/11/2013

As the State Keeps Closing Hospitals the City Is Less Able to Take Care of Emergencies Like the Ferry Crash

City Trauma Care Showing Strains(WSJ)After a ferry smashed into a Lower Manhattan dock Wednesday, first responders rushed dozens of people to a scattering of hospitals where nearly all were treated for minor injuries. But one passenger suffered serious head and face trauma and had to be taken 6 miles north for treatment.

Rally Held To Save Long Island College Hospital(NY1)
New York City Health Commissioner Tom Farley defended the city’s decision not to evacuate hospitals and nursing homes before Hurricane Sandy hit, saying they wanted to avoid the risk of endangering the health of vulnerable patients, the New York Daily News reports

Crisis in The Bronx Hospital Health Care Where are the Elected Officials and Mayoral Candidates ?Two More Hospitals May Close

Bidding Battle Over Bronx Hospital(WSJ) Two competing bids to take over New York Westchester Square Medical Center, a struggling hospital in the Bronx, are bringing to light deeper tensions about health care in the borough.

Exclusive: Long Island College Hospital faces threat of closing, SUNY official Carl McCall warns (NYDN) SUNY Downstate Medicl Center facility is money loser* Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn May Be Forced to Close(NYT) * BREAKING: LICH ON DEATH WATCH — State prepares to pull plug.(Daily Eagle)

Painful good-bye for Peninsula Hospital(NYDN) * New York ranks 48th in the nation for organ donation. The DMV is trying to do something about that.

When Hospitals Close Poor People Die

Plug is pulled on Peninsula Hospital(NYDN)

Blame Kruger for the Bad Shape Of Brooklyn Hospitals and the People Who Will Die As A Result of Some of Them Closing

Plea in Hospital Payment(WSJ) Solomon Kalish, the owner of a health-care consulting firm, withdrew his original not guilty plea and told a federal judge in Manhattan that he had knowingly broken the law when he accepted $197,005 in payments from hospital executives that he later turned over to former Democratic state Sen. Carl Kruger. Kruger crony admits bribes(NYP) Half of Brooklyn hospitalsCrain's New York Business * Former Sen. Carl Kruger spent $1.42 million in campaign funds on his legal defense and still has $400,000 left over, although he must make a court-ordered restitution to the tune of $900,000. * Politicians’ Ambitions and Indiscretions, on Taxpayers’ Tab (NYT) Each special election to replace them costs $350,000.

Hospital $$$ Problems

Hosp to pay $13M in Medicare bilking Beth Israel Medical Center admitted to fraudulently raising fees for Medicare patients through a process called “turbocharging” and agreed to pay the federal government $13 million in damages 30 New York-area hospitals hit with poor ratings (NYDN) Of the 50 hospitals cited by Consumer Reports as having the worst patient safety records nationwide, 30 are in the New York City metro area and the Bronx’s city-run Jacobi Medical Center is the worst Leaders say Brookdale's lawsuits 'cause for great conce(NYDN) *Five unsafest hosps hazardous to health(NYP)

State shutdown of Peninsula Hospital’s lab bleeds into ongoing bankruptcy proceedings (NYDN) U.S. Trustee seeks appointed administrator to run Peninsula instead of current CEO

The Devil Wears Marshalls

Man Gets Taken to the Hospital In Front of Rally to Reopen St. Vincent's Hospital

MLK Vigil Turns Into 911 Emergency 120 W St. Rudin Lux Condos

Brooklyn's Hospital Crisis Deepens

Renegade CEO at Bushwick’s Wyckoff Heights Medical Center drops out of three-way merger (NYDN) He wants beleagured hospital to go it alone. Wyckoff Heights Medical Center Interim CEO Ramon Rodriguez will not allow the hospital to merge with two others, in defiance of a state advisory panel’s recommendation *Catholic-run hospitals are increasingly merging with smaller, secular hospitals, which often results in a limit of services provided – particularly when it comes to women’s reproductive health.

Is the NYT Telling Us A Drug Store Replaces St. Vincent's Hospital to Protect Quinn Who Is Being Attacked For Allowing the Hospital to Close?

New Style of Health Care Emerges to Fill Hospital’s Void(NYT) The demise of St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village two years ago has led to a struggle for health care supremacy, offering a glimpse at what might be the future of urban medicine. *Loser of Bid to Overhaul Hospital Logs Files a Claim(NYT) Allscripts, one of the country’s largest providers of electronic medical records, lodged a complaint against the city’s public hospital system for awarding a $303 million contract to a rival, Epic Systems

It is So Easy To Kill A Hospital

City Planning Commission Unanimously Passes St. Vincent's Rezoning Plan(NY1) Hospital Site's Plan Advances Plans to remake the St. Vincent's Hospital site in the West Village into an $800 million residential project were approved on Monday by the City Planning Commission.*City Rezones St. Vincent's Site(Fox 5)

City Hospital Will Need Millions From the State and City After Fed Cuts

Hospitals’ Medicare funds at risk(NY World) City medical centers stand to lose millions under new incentives to improve care under government insurance program for the elderly

Bronx Nurses, Locals Dread Closing Of Westchester Square Medical Center(NY1)

Start of A Major Reorganization of Brooklyn Hospitals

Abrupt Shift in Leadership at a Hospital in Brooklyn(NYT) After the chief executive of Wyckoff Heights Medical Center was abruptly dismissed, a member of a Cuomo administration task force was appointed to take over. The chief executive of a troubled Brooklyn hospital has been abruptly dismissed, less than a month after a task force set up by Cuomo outlined a plan to carry out a major reorganization of how hospital care is delivered in Brooklyn. A task force member is temporarily running things.

When Hospitals Close People Die

Peninsula Hospital Board Meets As Residents Rally(NY1)

3/14/2013
___________________________________________________________________________________
Another Hospital Closed for Developers

BREAKING: Judge rules that SUNY Downstate plans to close LICH halted. More soon on http://BrooklynEagle.com
Breaking: Judge rules keep LICH open for now. State officials broke Open Meetings Law.

Second opinion: State now admits LICH real estate was on the table(Brooklyn Paper)

Senior moment: Activist claims LICH can be saved by letting old folks move in(Brooklyn Paper)

1/28/2013

Paying Doctors for Performance(NYT Ed) New York City’s public hospital system is moving away from cost-of-living increases.* Questions Remain on Expanded Medicaid(WSJ) * ‘LICH saved my life’ say petition signers, hoping to rescue sinking Cobble Hill hospital. (Daily Eagle)

Exclusive: Long Island College Hospital losing money at ‘excessive rate,’ SUNY official Carl McCall says (NYDN) In first interview McCall says SUNY Downstate's purchstate of LICH was not "a sound acquisition."*

Rescuer Appears for New York Downtown Hospital (NYT)

1/9/2013
A Slow Death Has Begun At Downstate Hospital

As for Downstate Medical Center, layoffs are looming for about 800 UUP and PEF members — about 10 percent of the facility's workforce. Hundreds of union members rallied in the Capitol to protest cutbacks at a state-run hospital in Brooklyn(TU)

3 Way Brooklyn Hospital Merger Stalls

Hospital board balks at Brooklyn mega-merger(CrainsNY)*Chefs, Butlers, Marble Baths: Hospitals Vie for the Affluent(NYT)

Downstate Hospital is Being Murdered Slowly Where Is Marty Markowitz and the Rest of the Booklyn Pols?

SUNY Downstate in financial trouble, says state officia …(NYDN)
State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli’s office says the SUNY Downstate Medical Center is hemorrhaging millions of dollars every week and could be insolvent in a few months.* State audit shows SUNY Downstate Medical in trouble(NYP) * Red alert for B’klyn hospital(NYT) * SUNY Downstate in financial trouble, says state officia (NYDN) * @MartyMarkowitz in Inbox: "BP MARKOWITZ HONORS GOOD SAMARITAN TENA COHEN, BROOKLYN TECH SPANISH TEACHER WHO RETURNED DOGNAPPED POOCH" * Report Says SUNY Downstate Medical Center In Financial Trouble (NY1)
Downstate Hospital Being Killed Slowly

How Did Brooklyn Elected Officials Allow Hospitals In Their Borough to Fail So Badly

A Brooklyn Hospital, Low on Cash, Says It May Need a State Bailout(NYT) The board chairman of Interfaith Medical Center blames Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, another ailing hospital, for delaying a rescue plan. * The Times questions a jury’s verdict that a woman’s death at Wyckoff Hospital in Brooklyn five years ago was unavoidable, and suggests the hospital was negligent in its care: * Interfaith Medical Center in Bed-Stuy is running out of money and may seek a state bailout. Hospital officials blame say a merger with two nearby hospitals that fell through is to blame.

Bronx Nurses, Locals Dread Closing Of Westchester Square Medical Center(NY1)

Henry Berger and Stanley Brezenoff Close Another Hospital and the Media Never Even Prints Their Name

BULLETIN: SUNY TELLS DOCS LICH WILL CLOSE ON SUNDAY
Crisply Made Beds and Empty Corridors as State Prepares a Hospital for Its Closing(NYT) * Bill de Blasio and Dan Squadron storm rally to save Long Island College Hospital(NYDN)
* Protest Erupts After LICH Staff Claims Hospital Closure Is Imminent(NY1)

___________________________________________________________________________________
Hospital Closing

Closing Update SUNY just announced it plans to close Long Island College Hospital.
State Health Department Approves SUNY's Closure Plan For Long Island College Hospital (NY1) * It's over. Cuomo's health department pulls the plug. Brooklyn Daily Eagle* The official DOH doc closing LICH * State Health Department Approves SUNY's Closure Plan For Long Island College Hospital

Restraining Order * Judge rules LICH cannot overrule medical counsel of doctors & nurses demanding hospital remain open to serve patients

Bill de Blasio ‏@BilldeBlasio 8m

#BREAKING: We secured restraining order to stop closure of #LICH. Delivering to administration at 5pm. #SaveLICH #TRO http://advocate.nyc.gov/LICH

DE BLASIO'S TRO PROHIBITS SUNY FROM 'CURTAILING' ANY MEDICAL STAFF OR PROCEDURES OR DIVERTING AMBULANCES!

Brooklyn Grapples With Struggling Hospitals(WSJ)

Killing New Yorker's With No Finger Prints

Steven Berger and Stanley Brezenoff Close Another Hospital and the Media Never Even Prints Their Names

Berger Unplugs, Then Flatlines Nine Hospitals | Observer

Hamill: Long Island College Hospital merged to death - NY Daily News

Continuum is run by a ruthless powerbroker named Stanley Brezenoff whose nickname at LICH is Darth Vader.

Close Community Hospitals to Protect the Big Hospitals

A Plan to Stabilize and Strengthen New York's Health Care System
List of 10 full-service NYC hospital closings since 2006

LICH, the Zombie hospital, mean to house 375 patients, it has 18

Pulling hosp’s plug(NYP)
Despite a clear court order, and a punishing heat wave, state officials are going ahead with plans to shut down Brooklyn’s Long Island College Hospital this weekend, according to health-care workers. Doctors, nurses, health-care workers and patients...* Brooklyn officials storm LICH, protest SUNY’s closure plan(Brooklyn Eagle)

BULLETIN:
SUNY TELLS DOCS LICH WILL CLOSE ON SUNDAY
Crisply Made Beds and Empty Corridors as State Prepares a Hospital for Its Closing(NYT) * Bill de Blasio and Dan Squadron storm rally to save Long Island College Hospital(NYDN)
* Protest Erupts After LICH Staff Claims Hospital Closure Is Imminent(NY1) * A hospital on life support(Village Voice)

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2nd Brooklyn Hospital Ordered Close

Interfaith Medical Center Plans to Close(NYT)

The Central Brooklyn hospital, asking a bankruptcy court to approve the plan, outlined a phased shutdown, from mid-August to November. * Protesters Urge State Officials To Keep Brooklyn's Interfaith Medical Center Open(NY1)

Assembly Health Committee head Gottfried on #Brooklyn hospital crisis, de Blasio's Health Authority plan. #saveLICH http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/brooklyn-representatives-urge-reprieve-closing-interfaith-medical-center-2013-08-01-204900 …

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Judge Orders LICH Fully Open

Brooklyn judge orders restoration of key services at LICH(Brooklyn Eagle)

Long Island College Hospital faces threat of closing, SUNY official Carl McCall warns

Saturday

Long Island College Hospital Remains Open As Legal Jousting Continues http://bit.ly/1e2cQBT
Friday

‏@BklynEagle 13m

NYSNA court order against closing LICH was stayed on Thursday. De Blasio order still in effect. #saveLICH #brooklyn http://www.brooklyneagle.com/articles/interfaith-verge-closing-leaders-call-doh-consider-restructuring-plan-2013-07-26-210900 …

Amid Hospital’s Turmoil, a Lost Man Disappears(NYT)
Two fathers say NYC #911 took too long to dispatch EMS to help their dying sons @911BUFF @Ambulance_news : http://tinyurl.com/ktokjh7

Tuesday

March, Protest Of Proposed Brooklyn Hospital Closings Ends In Arrests (NY1)

Wednesday

SUNY Downstate under investigation by Brooklyn DA (Brooklyn Eagle)

Tuesday
Second Brooklyn Hospital Faces Closure(WSJ)
DA now probing LICH administrators http://dlvr.it/3hpMFF #newyork #nyc

Christine Quinn - Ten Chances To Stop Hospital Closings

Protesters Of Proposed Brooklyn Hospital Closings Stage 'Funeral March' (NY1)

De Blasio: SUNY Downstate Will Be In Big Trouble If It Closes LICH http://dlvr.it/3hpyLM #newyork #nyc

Sunday 6PM SUNY Downstate pushing ahead with LICH closure, only 11 patients remain. Plan is to empty out the sick by July 28 http://fw.to/Ay1wpsa
LICH DEAD: State approves closure plan, hospital says judges orders to keep it open will be ignored (Brooklyn Paper)

Brooklyn Daily Eagle ‏@BklynEagle 2h
OPINION: Why is Bill de Blasio the only mayoral candidate campaigning for #LICH? http://fb.me/SBTcBbyz

Bill de Blasio ‏@BilldeBlasio 3m

SUNY is breaking the law by refusing patients at LICH. We'll be back in court tomorrow continuing fight to #SaveLICH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9772rzAE5h0&feature=youtu.be …
Battle over Long Island College Hospital heats up: State officials vow to clear patients from cash-strapped Brooklyn medical center by next week – but Bill de Blasio is headed to court to stop the shutdown(NYDN)
Legal Battles Continue as Hospital in Brooklyn Nears Closing Date(NYT)

LICH staff calls cops as SUNY Downstate attempts to remove patients (Brooklyn Eagle)

The Times also reported that a patient who was transferred to Downstate from LICH last week has died.

First Steps in Shutdown of Long Island College Hospital Are Approved(NYT)
SHUT IT DOWN: State Health Dept. approves Long Island College Hospital closure — despite last-ditch efforts(NYDN) * Temporary Restraining Order Issued After State Approves Plans For Long Island College Hospital Shutdown(NY1) * SUNY Downstate Will Appeal Temporary Restraining Order Against Closing Long Island College Hospital(NY1) * Emergency judge's order keeps LICH open for now(WABC) * LICH Closure Approved; Restraining Order Could Buy Time (WCBS)

Restraining Order * Judge rules LICH cannot overrule medical counsel of doctors & nurses demanding hospital remain open to serve patients

Bill de Blasio ‏@BilldeBlasio 8m

#BREAKING: We secured restraining order to stop closure of #LICH. Delivering to administration at 5pm. #SaveLICH #TRO http://advocate.nyc.gov/LICH

DE BLASIO'S TRO PROHIBITS SUNY FROM 'CURTAILING' ANY MEDICAL STAFF OR PROCEDURES OR DIVERTING AMBULANCES!

Rubber Barons

Dominican Condoms Paid for By New Yorkers

Large numbers of New York City-branded condoms distributed for free across the five boroughs under a taxpayer-funded city Health Department program are being smuggled into the Dominican Republic, where they’re sold for cash, the Daily News reports:

___________________________________________________________________________________
Another Hospital Closing

Yet another Queens hospital closing, another on critical list(Queens Crap)
From the Queens Courier: Health care in the borough continues to flatline one facility at a time, with Holliswood Hospital the latest to shutter its doors. The 127-bed private psychiatric hospital in Jamaica closed on Monday, August 12 due to financial troubles, said a hospital official. Current patients will begin to be discharged, and after an estimated one to two weeks, the site will close permanently.* An audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli estimates the state’s Medicaid program might have overpaid hospitals by as much as $31.1 million over a 34-month period for patients who died within a day of being admitted.
Many Holliswood Hospital Workers Say Goodbyes On Last Day Of Work http://bit.ly/18AMuWt
A court order to allows LICH to resume services http://dlvr.it/3q4lzV
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LICH Closing Fight

Rep. Nydia Velazquez and seven others were arrested on Monday in Brooklyn for protesting the state’s closure of the Long Island College Hospital, the Wall Street Journal reports: http://on.wsj.com/16YhHS3
Get this: Associated Press says NYC hospitals have a problem. You think? http://fb.me/I0eQYGge

Brooklyn Hospital Closings a Blow to Psychiatric Care(NYT)
The planned closure of the Interfaith Medical Center threatens to create a severe shortage of inpatient mental* Protesters Urge State Officials To Keep Brooklyn's Interfaith Medical Center Open(NY1)

The judge has no robe(NYDN Ed)

In a display of judicial activism on stilts and steroids, a Brooklyn Supreme Court justice took an uninvited leap into the fight over closing Long Island College Hospital only to create turmoil and make a fool of herself. Having presided over the rather ministerial matter of the hospital’s takeover by SUNY Downstate Medical Center in 2011, Justice Carolyn Demarest was outraged to read in the news that the bailout had failed and the state, with the okay of Gov. Cuomo, was cutting its multi-million-dollar losses and shutting LICH.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion#ixzz2d5FVUcaG #LICH asset order scaled back on Friday by Judge Demarest. #SUNY will keep LICH assets so long as they don't... http://fb.me/2UXdywOCJ

SUNY Took Over LICH To Sell the Real Estate - Where Is the Criminal Investigation

Judge Carolyn E. Demarest of State Supreme Court in Brooklyn wrote that it was unclear whether SUNY’s intention was always to act as a kind of Trojan horse, taking over the hospital as a way of seizing its valuable assets — it is in a brownstone neighborhood in Brooklyn, and some rooms have views of the Statue of Liberty — or whether the closing happened through incompetence or circumstances beyond its control. Despite its prized location, the hospital has a largely poor patient base and has had years of Medicaid cuts. * At bankrupt Interfaith Medical Center in Brooklyn, patients wait avg. 10 hrs to be admitted. Those with broken bones wait 1.5 hrs to receive pain meds.Interfaith healing: Bankrupt Brooklyn hospital leads city in citations for faulty care(NY World)

As New Yorkers Die From Closed Hospitals The NYT Also Writes That A Club for Clowns is Closing
Curtain Falls on a Club for Clowns and Comics(NYT)

Daily News is Mad At A Judge Fighting Big Money Contributors From Big Hospitals That Are Bribing NY Pols to Close Hospitals That Serve the Poor

Justice, Johnny Lee Baynes

Judges gone wild (NYDN Ed)

In the Long Island College Hospital case, more legislating from the bench

Brooklyn Supreme Court justice, Johnny Lee Baynes, bars LICH’s closure on the ground that long-standing Health Department regulations are unconstitutionally vague, thereby eviscerating the department’s power to okay the closure of any hospital. Never mind that a governor, health commissioner and Legislature have wrestled with LICH’s fate as the most closely considered and debated hospital issue in decades.
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Hospital Closing

Closing Update SUNY just announced it plans to close Long Island College Hospital.
State Health Department Approves SUNY's Closure Plan For Long Island College Hospital (NY1) * It's over. Cuomo's health department pulls the plug. Brooklyn Daily Eagle* The official DOH doc closing LICH * State Health Department Approves SUNY's Closure Plan For Long Island College Hospital

Restraining Order * Judge rules LICH cannot overrule medical counsel of doctors & nurses demanding hospital remain open to serve patients

Bill de Blasio ‏@BilldeBlasio 8m

#BREAKING: We secured restraining order to stop closure of #LICH. Delivering to administration at 5pm. #SaveLICH #TRO http://advocate.nyc.gov/LICH

DE BLASIO'S TRO PROHIBITS SUNY FROM 'CURTAILING' ANY MEDICAL STAFF OR PROCEDURES OR DIVERTING AMBULANCES!

Killing New Yorker's With No Finger Prints

Steven Berger and Stanley Brezenoff Close Another Hospital and the Media Never Even Prints Their Names

Berger Unplugs, Then Flatlines Nine Hospitals | Observer

Hamill: Long Island College Hospital merged to death - NY Daily News

Continuum is run by a ruthless powerbroker named Stanley Brezenoff whose nickname at LICH is Darth Vader.

Close Community Hospitals to Protect the Big Hospitals

A Plan to Stabilize and Strengthen New York's Health Care System
List of 10 full-service NYC hospital closings since 2006

LICH, the Zombie hospital, mean to house 375 patients, it has 18

BULLETIN:
SUNY TELLS DOCS LICH WILL CLOSE ON SUNDAY
Crisply Made Beds and Empty Corridors as State Prepares a Hospital for Its Closing(NYT) * Bill de Blasio and Dan Squadron storm rally to save Long Island College Hospital(NYDN)
* Protest Erupts After LICH Staff Claims Hospital Closure Is Imminent(NY1) * A hospital on life support(Village Voice)

A Real Estate Deal to Close A Hospital

Where is the Investigation?
Why Did SUNY Buy LICH for SUNY $205,350,000 owned by Continuum Health Partners If They Never Had the Resources to support A Hospital? Now the WSJ Reports the Growing Debt of the Hospital is More Than A Real Estate Deal Will Take In

The $500 Million Question at LICH(WSJ)
“The liabilities highlight the challenges SUNY Downstate Medical Center faces as it tries to sell LICH to either a new operator or a developer.

The SUNY Board of Trustees held a hearing in Manhattan on the fate of Long Island College Hospital.(NY1)
NY1: “It’s not a matter of mismanagement,” said SUNY Board Chairman Carl McCall. “LICH has never had the resources to provide the kind of support that that community wants and probably needs, and we did not have those resources either. And you say that the folks there are angry. They are angry, and I understand that. But we have a lot of people here in SUNY.” McCall said that there isn’t much that they can do right now because of the court case, but they are considering some proposals to turn the hospital into an urgent care facility and also possible condominiums." * #SaveLICH: SUNY Hearing, McCall Says Condos Possible *Growing Hospital Debt State University of New York officials say that Long Island College Hospital’s mounting financial liabilities have climbed to $500 million, far more than the proceeds expected from the sale of the property, the Journal writes* Many of New York City’s financially strapped hospitals are scrambling to sign up people for health care through the state exchange or through Medicaid, as they brace for $22 billion in federal cuts over the next eight years, The Wall Street Journal reports: * "SUNY chair Carl McCall to de Blasio re LICH: Transfer it from state to city "Maybe they can do a better job."* NYC hospitals suffer (and pay for) poor quality ratings from Medicare. (NY World)* Health commissioner pledges 'cost transparency' in hospitals(Capital) * How long can city hospitals stay a 'going concern'? | Capital New York
More About Closing Hospitals

Ex-Hospital Worker Accused of Cover-Up in Patient’s Death The patient, Esmin Green, collapsed and died in a Brooklyn psychiatric hospital’s waiting room, where a video showed staff members ignoring her. (NYT) * Ex-hospital worker accused in cover-up (WSJ) * City Hospital Employee Indicted In Psych Patient's Death

Yet another Queens hospital closing, another on critical list(Queens Crap)

From the Queens Courier: Health care in the borough continues to flatline one facility at a time, with Holliswood Hospital the latest to shutter its doors. The 127-bed private psychiatric hospital in Jamaica closed on Monday, August 12 due to financial troubles, said a hospital official. Current patients will begin to be discharged, and after an estimated one to two weeks, the site will close permanently.* An audit by state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli estimates the state’s Medicaid program might have overpaid hospitals by as much as $31.1 million over a 34-month period for patients who died within a day of being admitted.
Many Holliswood Hospital Workers Say Goodbyes On Last Day Of Work http://bit.ly/18AMuWt
A court order to allows LICH to resume services http://dlvr.it/3q4lzV

Closed Hospitals, Brooklyn 911 Phone System Are Reasons Not Given for A 10% Increase In Ambulance Response Time

NYC sees increase in cardiac emergencies as ambulance response time rises (NYP) Ambulances responded to 8,804 cardiac arrests in the first four months of the fiscal year — a 10 percent increase from the same period a year ago — and it took longer to get to those needing help, according to figures released Tuesday. Every second is critical in cardiac cases — a detail made more worrisome because the longer response times came as the number of cardiac calls jumped sharply from 8,026 a year earlier. The numbers explain why Mayor de Blasio is adding 32 ambulances to the city fleet in his upcoming budget. The Transportation Department reported it took an average 6.7 days to close a pothole work order, up from 4.3 days, because of an “exceptionally harsh winter” that left so many of the craters.There was better news at the NYPD, which dispatched patrol cars to crimes in progress in an average of 8.4 minutes, down from 9.3 minutes the previous year. * * New York City lawmakers said the de Blasio administration is not doing enough to overhaul the 911 system during a tense City Council hearing, the Daily News reports: * NYC Council members criticized the de Blasio administration’s continued push of a plan to overhaul the 911 emergency response system, despite the project being years behind schedule and more than $2 billion over budget.NYC Council Criticizes Long-Awaited, $2 Billion 911 System (WSJ) New York City council members sharply criticized Wednesday the remaking of the city's 911 system, a $2 billion-plus, more-than-decade-long project that remains incomplete.* NYPD Deputy Commish John Miller: Why ISIS' appeal is sostrong (NYDN)

Closed Hospitals
Lobbyists are at the heart of the 911 Emergency Systems Failure

Last January True News

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Saturday, February 4, 2012

Closing Hospitals, HHC, LICH to Build Luxury Housing Under Federal Investigation #601

The HHC Is Going Broke While the City Puts Band Aids On A Cancer

An E.R., Not a Hospital, Is Set to Open at St. Vincent’s Site(NYT)

24-hour emergency care center opening to fill St. Vincent’s void(NYP)

* The U.S. Health and Human Services inspector general is calling for New York to repay $60.8 million in federal Medicaid reimbursement funds for costs not covered under the program relating to room and board for developmentally disabled people, the Associated Press reports: http://goo.gl/hrh9lM

Feds want NY to repay $60.8M in Medicaid reimbursements(NYP)

__________________________________________________________________________________ Judge Orders LICH Fully Open

Stephen Berger, former chair of a panel that ordered the closure of several failing New York City hospitals, will lead efforts to determine a prognosis for ailing Brooklyn hospitals.

Bloomberg Reduces Mothers Little Helpers At City Hospitals

1/11/2013

Painful good-bye for Peninsula Hospital(NYDN) * New York ranks 48th in the nation for organ donation. The DMV is trying to do something about that.

When Hospitals Close Poor People Die

Hospital $$$ Problems

State shutdown of Peninsula Hospital’s lab bleeds into ongoing bankruptcy proceedings (NYDN) U.S. Trustee seeks appointed administrator to run Peninsula instead of current CEO

Man Gets Taken to the Hospital In Front of Rally to Reopen St. Vincent's Hospital

Brooklyn's Hospital Crisis Deepens

It is So Easy To Kill A Hospital

Start of A Major Reorganization of Brooklyn Hospitals

When Hospitals Close People Die

Peninsula Hospital Board Meets As Residents Rally(NY1)

Exclusive: Long Island College Hospital losing money at ‘excessive rate,’ SUNY official Carl McCall says (NYDN) In first interview McCall says SUNY Downstate's purchstate of LICH was not "a sound acquisition."*

3 Way Brooklyn Hospital Merger Stalls

Hospital board balks at Brooklyn mega-merger(CrainsNY)*Chefs, Butlers, Marble Baths: Hospitals Vie for the Affluent(NYT)

__________________________________________________________________________________ Judge Orders LICH Fully Open

Tuesday

March, Protest Of Proposed Brooklyn Hospital Closings Ends In Arrests (NY1)

2 comments:

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Judge Orders LICH Fully Open

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Judge Orders LICH Fully Open