Hospital

An aspect of the current economic crisis that is not commonly reported is the national trend of hospital closures. In the last decade many of the number of hospitals in the City of New York that have been slated to close, are currently downsizing, or are restructuring increased at an alarming rate. Most hospitals that are undergoing rapid negative changes are located near parts of the city where the rate of poverty is higher. Availability of rapid response emergency health care is not available to these people, the consequences of hospital closure could be staggering. This is not, however, a new trend since 1985 the location of hospitals that are in weak financial positions are more likely to be located in poorer areas. State grants to these hospitals is not seeming to work, and the problem is further exacerbated by the State of New York’s large fiscal deficit of $8.2 billion dollars. In addition to the state’s desperate fiscal climate, the political climate is not much better with Democrats and Republicans at a gridlock. The chances of state fiscal intervention is very unlikely, increasing the chances of hospital closures.

The most recent hospital to be in danger of closing is St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Manhattan. New York Governor David Patterson attempted to arrange a partnership agreement between St. Vincents and Mount Sinai Medical Center of Queens. Due to the failure of this agreement coming to fruition, the fate of the Greenwich Village hospital hangs in the balance. St. Vincent’s hospital is running a deficit of about $7 million to $10 million dollars a month despite the taking out of $20 million worth of emergency loans from private banks.

Citywide, the public New York City hospitals are cutting 3,900 jobs. The hospital job cuts are the worst job cuts in the health care sector in 20 years. The job cuts will reduce the cities health care to 35,000 jobs in NYC’s public hospitals. Hospitals across the board are running deficits, necessitating job cuts, restructuring, and even closures. As of March 2009, 2 Queens hospitals closed, St. John’s Queens Hospital and Mary Immaculate Hospital, cutting 2,500 jobs from that borough. The two hospitals in Queens are located in neighborhoods heavily populated by minorities, whose poverty rates are historically high. In addition to further disadvantaging the already disadvantaged, hospital closures damage the quality of care in other hospitals. This would cause overcrowding in emergency rooms, maternity wards, and other critical wards of hospitals citywide. For example in June 2009 Brooklyn hospitals struggled to give rapid service to mothers giving birth in the maternity ward due to closures of hospitals. In one hospital in Brooklyn, Maimonides Medical Center 74 babies were born in 48 hours setting a record for the hospital. In the first five months of 2009, over 3,000 babies were born at Brooklyn’s Borough Park hospital alone, a 16% increase since 2007. The overcrowded conditions did not, for the most part, jeopardize the welfare of newborns and mother’s giving birth but many were inconvenienced. This is simply a warning sign of a trend that could be of serious concern if not addressed properly.

What is the State of New York to do when schools, hospitals, and even some of the state’s prisons are closing? This is causing political backlashes that is reflexive of frustrated citizens that are effected by public facility closures. New York Republicans of Upstate New York are angry with closures of prisons as corrections are vital to the economy of that region of the state. New York City’s mainly Democratic inhabitants are very disappointed on the closure of several of New York’s public schools. Public health is an issue the affects all New York Citizens and closures of hospitals must be avoided at all costs. Most of New York State’s federal stimulus money went to New York State’s larger than average Medicaid program. The money went to running the program, sacrificing some hospitals in the process. The stimulus dollars were not enough to cover the overall health care crisis within the state due to the financial black hole of the state’s deficit. New York has a larger Medicaid burden than most other states because it is the third most populous state and a major gateway for entering immigrants who are poorer than most Americans. The State’s vital network of hospitals is on the verge of collapse with New York City at its epicenter. Recovery for New York State is not on the horizon, maybe a political see change in New York’s Gubernatorial Election is likely. However, that does not mean that a solution to the State’s problems are near.