NUMC would get $40M as part of NYS plan to install new board, sources say

ALBANY — Nassau University Medical Center will get a $40 million infusion for improvements as part of an overall plan to install a new board to oversee the financially troubled hospital, multiple sources said Monday.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, the State Senate and Assembly are trying this week to finalize a state budget agreement, which is expected to include a new board for NUMC, as Newsday first reported. The working plan would give Hochul and Democrats control of seven of the 11 board members, sources have told Newsday.

The State Legislature could begin voting on what is supposed to be a roughly $254 billion budget "at the earliest ... [Tuesday] and at the latest Wednesday," Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie told reporters Monday.

The budget agreement is "99.9%" done, with just final edits to finish, Heastie said.

 As part of a board takeover,  the Democratic-led State Legislature would earmark funds to help NUMC begin overdue capital and infrastructure work, the sources said — and $40 million might just be the first shot of aid that eventually totals much more once a new board is in place.

Senate Democrats and Assembly Democrats each signed off on the amount during closed-door member meetings, the sources said.

NUMC's CEO, Meg Ryan, citing Newsday's story, said in a statement: "This isn’t aid— it’s a calculated ploy to dress up” a board takeover “as benevolence.”

Nassau Health Care Corp., the entity that runs the hospital and also known as NuHealth, is more than $500 million in debt and asked for a state bailout a year ago. Last fall, Hochul’s administration began talks with Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, which monitors county and NHCC finances, on a possible long-term strategy to put the hospital in better financial position.

But Blakeman, a Republican, and NUMC recently changed direction, launching an ad campaign blaming Hochul for the hospital’s problems and filing a lawsuit claiming state government has shortchanged NUMC in state aid by $1 billion.

NIFA has called the lawsuit a "baseless political stunt" meant to distract from the medical center’s long-running and worsening financial problems. The state has included NUMC among New York’s "distressed hospitals" list, making it eligible for special funding annually. But Nassau officials allege that haven’t received all they’re due.

With the rhetoric escalating, the Hochul administration began considering a board restructuring.

One proposal has been for an 11-member board, four appointed by the governor, one by the Democratic-led State Senate, one by the Democratic-led State Assembly and one by the Democrats in the Nassau County Legislature. The other four selections would come from Blakeman and the GOP in the county legislature.

A final detail being nailed down is how soon the new board would take effect — possibly June 1.

NuHealth has a regularly scheduled board meeting Thursday night. An agenda has yet to be released publicly.

With momentum moving for a new board, Blakeman removed Matthew Bruderman as NuHealth board chairman less than two weeks ago and replaced him with Dr. Irina Gelman, who also serves as county health commissioner. Bruderman remains on the board.

At the Capitol, the State Legislature’s movement toward voting on a budget comes more than a week after Hochul announced a "general agreement" on broad outlines of the plan.

"Members are ready to go, but it does take a little bit of time to print the bills," Heastie said after a lengthy closed-door meeting of the Democratic rank and file.

The budget was supposed to be adopted by April 1, the start of New York’s fiscal year.

With Keshia Clukey

By Yancey Roy

yancey.roy@newsday.com@yanceyroy