New York is one of the most heavily-regulated hospital markets in the United Sates, where for-profit hospital operators that are not individual persons are barred. But two for-profit corporations could run facilities in the state under a pilot program proposed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, according to a blog post from law firm EpsteinBeckerGreen.
The Cuomo Administration proposed the change in its most recent budget, intending to increase access to capital among hospital operators throughout New York.
Under the pilot program, for-profit corporations wishing to operate hospitals in the state would require approval of the New York Public Health and Planning Council, according to the blog post. One hospital under corporate control would be located in Kings County, in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, while the other facility would be in an unspecified site.
Brooklyn has been the epicenter of financially distressed hospitals, with the trustees of the State University of New York recently voting to close Long Island College Hospital, according to Crain's New York Business. Interfaith Medical Center also is negotiating for a takeover by the Brooklyn Hospital Center.
"New York should allow investor-owned companies to come in," Corbett Price, CEO Kurron Shares of America, the sole shareholder of the for-profit company that has managed Interfaith for more than 20 years, told Crain's in an interview this week.
"We are having a disproportionate number of hospital failures lately, and we seem to be capital-starved," he noted.
For more:
- check out the EpsteinBeckerGreen blog post
- here's Gov. Cuomo's budget proposal (.pdf)
- read the Crain's New York Business article and Q&A