Orginally Written In The New York Times
A hospital in central Brooklyn laid off 240 doctors, nurses and other
workers on Monday, signaling growing financial weakness in the hospital
industry.
Officials at the hospital, Brookdale University Hospital and Medical
Center, which serves Brownsville, East New York and Canarsie, blamed
the bad economy for the layoffs. “The general economic downturn has not
spared the community served by Brookdale hospital,” said Ole W.
Pedersen, a hospital spokesman, in a written statement.
Mr. Pedersen said that the layoffs affected union and nonunion workers,
physicians and some managers. But he said the hospital, which has
nearly 4,000 employees covering 530 hospital beds, a nursing home and
clinics, expected to be able to continue to operate.
Ken Raske, president of the Greater New York Hospital Association, said
that the Brookdale layoffs, which followed the closing last month of
two hospitals in Queens — St. John’s Queens Hospital and Mary
Immaculate Hospital, both run by Caritas Health Care Inc. — was an ill
omen for New York City hospitals. He estimated that 2,700 health care
jobs were being eliminated, and said that Gov. David A. Paterson’s
proposed budget would cost $1 billion in Medicaid cuts and new taxes
(including $32 million at Brookdale).
“The health care system is in extremely fragile condition,” Mr. Raske
said. “Facing the budget that’s being proposed in Albany, this will be
the first of a chain car reaction.”
George Gresham, president of 1199 S.E.I.U. United Healthcare Workers
East, which represents 3,400 workers at Brookdale, including 178 of
those who received layoff notices, echoed Mr. Raske’s concern, saying:
“Hospitals are hanging by a thread.”
In their statement, Brookdale officials complained that the hospital
had been hurt in payment disputes with insurance and managed care
companies. The hospital says that insurers have a history of often
denying payment for necessary medical treatment, leaving the hospital
to absorb the costs.
The hospital also said it had been hurt by rising drug, energy and malpractice costs.
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