New York Hospitals in Critical Condition as Deficit Looms
- State, federal aid projected to drop by almost $1 billion
- Staffing likely biggest hurdle to neighborhood clinics shift
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New York City’s public hospitals are in critical condition with rising costs and plummeting revenue. There’s no dispute about that diagnosis. The problem is with Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposed cure, according to health policy makers, hospital administrators and budget watchdogs.
As NYC Health + Hospitals President Ram Raju describes it, the largest U.S. municipal-healthcare provider is an ailing system of 11 hospitals that’s losing revenue because of increased competition from non-profit hospitals for Medicaid patients and drastic cuts in federal and state aid for indigents.