NUMC president and CEO Megan Ryan to step down in July

The president and CEO of Nassau University Medical Center, Megan Ryan, announced her resignation effective July, a decision that comes as state officials are set  to take control of the troubled hospital board this weekend.

Ryan submitted her resignation effective July 20 in a letter to the hospital’s newly appointed chairwoman, Dr. Irina Gelman. In a letter to hospital staff submitted last week and made public Friday, Ryan wrote: “I cannot, in good conscience, participate in what I believe is a dismantling of a vital public health institution.”

“I have always viewed my leadership at [the Nassau Health Care Corporation] as a calling rooted in public service,” she wrote, referring to the parent company that runs the hospital. “From the moment I arrived, I believed that Nassau University Medical Center could be a national model for the principle that health care is a human right.”

The hospital has long fought with state officials over its financial woes, filing a $1 billion lawsuit last year over claims it was illegally robbed of promised funding. Meanwhile, Gov. Kathy Hochul has alleged years of mismanagement that’s driven the hospital into hundreds of millions of dollars of debt. Hochul is expected as early as Sunday to appoint a new hospital board chair under a new state restructuring of the board.

Auditors have warned the hospital cannot financial sustain itself  for seven consecutive years. A draft financial statement reported by Newsday earlier this week illustrated a bleak future for the facility, which reported a deficit of $1.4 billion last year.

“NUMC’s own audit says that they lost $142 million last year. That is a pretty stark contrast with the rosy picture that [Ryan] is painting,” Gordon Tepper, a spokesman for Hochul told Newsday.

“NUMC is in financial peril. I don’t know what parallel universe she’s living in,” he said.

Ryan could not be reached for comment. She became the hospital’s permanent CEO in December after serving in an interim position for 11 months, defying warnings from New York State’s top health officials who pleaded to keep her out of the seat. The hospital’s board voted to appoint Ryan as president and CEO for a five-year term. Before serving as interim CEO, Ryan had also served as the hospital's general counsel and chief legal officer. 

NUMC is a so-called Disproportionate Share Hospital, making it entitled to government funding for treating a large share of low-income and uninsured patients. Last month, Gelman took over as chair after her predecessor Matthew Bruderman was ousted after claiming someone broke into his Centre Island home and stole documents linked to an FBI investigation into the hospital.

Hochul and Democrats will appoint seven board members as early as Sunday, while Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and Republicans will appoint four members, Newsday previously reported.