It's time to remake NUMC's board

Behind the troubled Nassau University Medical Center sits a 15-member board tasked with managing and overseeing the hospital and its public benefit corporation. That governing board, the hospital's management and its chairman, Matthew Bruderman, are failing to fulfill their duties to Nassau County's taxpayers and to NUMC's employees and patients.

The unpaid board, which used to meet 10 times a year, now meets quarterly — a change made under Bruderman in 2022. What can get done during a crisis in four meetings a year? More problematic: Multiple board members hold expired terms. They're considered “holdovers” and no one has made an effort to assess, reappoint or replace them.

NUMC's board includes eight members recommended to the governor by various elected officials, including the Nassau county executive, the majority and minority leaders of the county legislature, and the State Assembly speaker and State Senate majority leader. Ultimately, they are appointed by the governor who has the power to reject a recommendation.

Of those eight, according to various records which don't contain the same information, at least four are “holdover” members whose terms expired. There's also one vacant seat to be recommended by the county legislature's majority leader, Republican Howard Kopel. Seven additional members are directly appointed by the county executive or county legislature. Three of the legislative appointments are holdovers.

That means a majority of the board's seats are either vacant or held by people with expired terms who could be replaced with individuals who better understand the hospital's challenges and are willing and able to take the drastic steps necessary to move it forward. Five of those seats are in Gov. Kathy Hochul's hands. She must reshape this board.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and the county legislature also should focus on finding new board members for the seats they control, currently the majority of the board — and six of the eight holdovers and vacancies. Ultimately, however, the State Legislature should tie any bailout for NUMC to state officials appointing the majority of the board.

Political ties put board members' independence in question. All but two have made state or federal campaign contributions. At least two members — both Democrats — previously ran for office. Another — Bobby Kumar Kalotee — was a Nassau GOP political power broker and the former head of the county's Independence Party, who at one point staged his own kidnapping. Bruderman gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to local and national parties and candidates.

The board is the easiest part to fix. That starts with jettisoning Bruderman — but doesn't end there. NUMC employees headed to Albany Tuesday to beg for financial help, but state officials must not award any funding without remaking the board. These new members should be experienced in finance and health care and have a bold willingness to transform a hospital far too reliant on how things have always been done — and done badly.

It's time for new leadership.