NUMC and lawmakers at odds

Daily Point

Hospital battles rage

Nassau University Medical Center’s war with Gov. Kathy Hochul has expanded to involve the State Legislature. NUMC came out swinging this week against the State Senate and Assembly after each chamber released its one-house budget proposal, saying in a press release that the state "has intentionally starved NUMC of key resources in the last five years."

"You can’t say that healthcare is a human right and then play politics with the future of the only facility that serves everyone regardless of their ability to pay," NUMC chief executive Megan Ryan said in the release. "It should be deeply troubling to everyone who lives in Nassau County that the State would fail to fulfill its legal obligations to support our hospital."

The press release, which said that each chamber’s budget proposal lacked resources for NUMC, came after 12 Long Island lawmakers sent a letter to Hochul late last month voicing what they called "urgent concern regarding the financial crisis facing Nassau University Medical Center." They argued that the hospital had received "zero state aid or distressed hospital funds for the last two years."

Eleven of those lawmakers are Republicans; just one, Assemb. Steve Stern, is a Democrat.

Stern did not return calls for comment.

Ryan pointed fingers at state legislative leaders who did not sign on to the letter, saying their lack of support was "sad and unconscionable." While she didn’t mention any leaders by name, she did thank those who signed the letter: Republican State Sens. Steven Rhoads, Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick, Jack Martins and Alexis Weik, and Republican Assembly members Ari Brown, John Mikulin, Michael Durso, Daniel Norber, David McDonough, Edward Ra, and Jake Blumencranz. She singled out Stern as "the only Democrat to openly advocate for NUMC thus far in the process."

"Apparently members of the legislature think no one is watching or will hold them accountable. Time will tell," Ryan said in the statement. "Nassau residents should know that this appears tainted with the worst kind of party politics and efforts to cover up the State’s Medicaid scam that has starved NUMC of resources for years."

Hochul spokesman Gordon Tepper told The Point Wednesday that the accusations made by NUMC and the lawmakers were incorrect.

"Governor Hochul is committed to supporting safety-net hospitals, but NUMC’s biggest obstacle to receiving state aid is its own leadership," Tepper said.

Tepper noted that the state has paid $60 million toward the debt NUMC owes to the New York State Health Insurance Program, or NYSHIP, from which employees and retirees get their health insurance. Despite the state’s help, NUMC’s debt now surpasses $400 million.

Contrary to the hospital’s claims, Tepper said, NUMC received $117 million during the 2024 fiscal year in what’s known as Disproportionate Share Hospital, or DSH, payments — the funds given to distressed hospitals — and another $38 million in the 2025 fiscal year.

Those funds, he said, were "only paused due to [NUMC’s] own lawsuit against the State."

NUMC sued the state for $1 billion last year over accusations that the state has owed the hospital additional money over the last two decades.

In their letter, state lawmakers incorrectly suggested that the hospital has cut more than $100 million from its operating deficit — a number based on a NUMC budget projection that includes the $50 million in annual revenue sought in the lawsuit, even though the lawsuit was just filed and NUMC has not been awarded any money yet.

In response to Tepper’s comments Matthew Bruderman, the chairman of NUMC’s public benefit corporation Nassau Health Care Corp., sent The Point a statement saying Tepper’s funding claims were "total fiction" because they involved a "shell game" that, Bruderman said, included state funding that was "sourced from NUMC’s own funds."

"The governor’s office response is the definition of cooking the books to fit a political agenda," Bruderman said in the statement.

"Again, the State is lying and is trying to change the narrative," Bruderman said. "First the State cut the funding and stole the hospital’s money. Then the hospital sued the state. The State DID NOT hold the hospital’s funding because the hospital sued the State and in any case would have no right to do so."

Bruderman also said in the statement that the NYSHIP funds "are no longer due to NYSHIP" — a claim he has made before, in an apparent suggestion that the money the hospital says the state owes it would cover its health insurance debt.

"The State should comply with their legal obligations, engage in constructive dialogue and work with us to ensure this institution is properly funded," he said. "Anything less is putting political power plays over the needs of our staff and patients."

Tepper said additional aid would have required a "viable financial transformation plan," which NUMC never submitted.

"Instead of addressing critical issues, hospital leadership is still wasting resources on a misleading PR campaign," Tepper said. "If these lawmakers are truly concerned about NUMC’s future, they should demand transparency and responsible management from its leadership."

But Bruderman said in his statement that NUMC did submit a financial plan.

"The State has ripped off ... Nassau County’s most vulnerable for more than a decade and they will be held accountable," Bruderman said.

To Bruderman’s full statement, Tepper responded: "I have no idea what he's talking about."

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

Stock market gymnastics

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Final Point

Zero chance of zero road fatalities?

As a state, New York ranks 10th nationwide in total number of motor vehicle traffic fatalities, according to data compiled by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. As a county, Suffolk ranks first statewide in motor vehicle fatalities and injuries. And as a town, Brookhaven ranks first countywide in fatalities and injuries.

So the need to make Brookhaven Town’s roads safer is sledgehammer-to-the-face obvious.

Just how to do it is as enigmatic as the Bermuda Triangle.

Brookhaven received a federal grant of $380,000 in February 2023 and pledged to add $95,000 for a total of $475,000 to be used to improve road safety.

The grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Safe Streets and Roads for All program, will be used to partner with Vision Zero, an international nonprofit that pledges to "eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries." Vision Zero makes recommendations based on input from the community itself, including residents, officials, and first responders. Those suggestions include traffic-calming measures such as speed bumps and roundabouts; reducing speed limits where pedestrians and bicyclists frequent; and incentivizing mass transit.

Brookhaven is the largest town by size in New York, responsible for more than 2,000 miles of roads within 368 square miles. In 2023, there were 56 fatal crashes in the town, compared with 21 in 2024. Injuries likewise dropped, from 4,252 in 2023 to 3,459 in 2024, according to data compiled by the Institute for Traffic Safety Management and Research.

On March 6, the Brookhaven Town board unanimously adopted a declaration to create and implement a Vision Zero safety action plan.

Brookhaven pledged to "reach zero fatal and serious injury roadway crashes by 2045," a laudable if seemingly unrealistic goal.

Vision Zero, for its part, refutes that negativity, saying that "zero" fatal and serious roadway crashes is "achievable." The nonprofit calls it a public health crisis that can be solved because "when we set the ambitious goal of zero traffic deaths, people not only think differently, they also act differently."

Vision Zero’s logic is that drivers make mistakes, and "the road system and related policies should be designed to ensure those inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injuries or fatalities." Vision Zero rejects what it calls "business as usual" and calls for systemic change in how municipalities address traffic safety.

A criticism of Vision Zero, and the Safe Streets and Roads for All program, is that it simply doesn’t work given the cost. The evidence is mixed.

Chicago failed to see statistical improvement after implementing its Vision Zero program, while San Francisco saw a marked decline in fatalities by adhering to Vision Zero’s principles.

Brookhaven’s allotment of $475,000 for 2,000 miles of roads works out to $237.50 per mile, which seems like an amount that couldn’t possibly make a difference. But the town is at the early stages of its grant. Brookhaven’s first step was to formally pledge to create a safety action plan with the "eventual goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries." No concrete plan for any specific road has been formulated.

— Mark Nolan mark.nolan@newsday.com

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