New York State may have to cut off financial support for the money-losing Long Island College Hospital in a few days because it hasn't received a requested Medicaid waiver from the federal government, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
Cuomo, who advocates maintaining medical services at the LICH location, said Monday that if a Medicaid waiver was not granted by February, it would be unlikely that New York could continue to prop up LICH and fellow distressed Brooklyn hospital Interfaith Medical Center. The owner of LICH, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, has about $150 million of debt.
"We don't have 10 months to wait," Cuomo secretary Larry Schwartz told the City & State web site last week. "It's immediate. We need it now. These hospitals are on the verge of closing. There's fiscally distressed hospitals throughout the state, many of them are in Brooklyn. And we need the Medicaid waiver now."
The "Medicaid waiver" would allow the state to use a portion of the money it had saved over the last few years on Medicaid for other health-care purposes. The federal government approved the waiver over the course of two months for many states. It has been 18 months since New York has requested the waiver.
The federal government and the state are in a dispute over what the state could use the money for, holding up the federal government's approval, according to CapitalNewYork.com. Federal officials say the money could not be used to help struggling Brooklyn hospitals.
LICH "has lost money for nearly two decades and is basically empty," State University of New York spokesman David Doyle said. "The current burn rate of $13 million a month and liabilities of half a billion dollars threatens New York State's system of public higher education, including the only medical school in Brooklyn. The dire financial situation at SUNY Downstate was outlined in an audit by the New York State Comptroller and SUNY does not dispute those findings."
In a separate statement Doyle said, "Neither the state university system nor its campuses will default on their obligations. Until there is clear resolution to the LICH issue all options remain open for consideration including program reductions and raising tuition."
On Tuesday SUNY Downstate reopened requests for proposals for the purchase of the property of LICH until Feb. 3. However, it is only entertaining new proposals from those firms that submitted proposals in the first round of bidding. The new period will "allow firms an opportunity to clarify and modify their proposals in order to submit final and best offers."
