One-third of New York City's private hospitals are in dire need of intensive care, according to the New York Post. And if Gov. Andrew Cuomo makes good on his pledge to cut between $2 billion and $3 billion from the state's Medicaid program, they may have to shut down.
"There are 10 to 12 hospitals that are teetering on the edge [statewide]," said Stephen Berger, who is on Cuomo's Medicaid redesign team. "How many of them are really necessary? How many can be saved? How many can be merged? That's what we have to ask."
Some of the hospital on the verge of financial collapse serve residents of the city's poorer neighborhoods and high numbers of patients on Medicaid.
Major cuts in Medicaid could force hospitals such as Brookdale, Kingsbrook, Wyckoff, Interfaith and Brooklyn in Brooklyn, Jamaica and Peninsula in Queens and many facilities in the Bronx to enter bankruptcy or shut down forever.
Last year's closure of St. Vincent's Medical Center in Greenwich Village and North General Hospital in Harlem showed that the state, which faces a $10 billion budget gap, won't necessarily help chronically ill hospitals survive.
To learn more:
- read the New York Post story
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