Downstate Hospital could go broke within months, says report
A report from state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli on Thursday confirmed what many observers have suspected – that the State University of New York (SUNY) Downstate Medical Center in East Flatbush is facing bankruptcy and could be insolvent by May.
The financial problems are seen not only at Downstate’s main campus in East Flatbush, but at its two affiliated hospitals – University Hospital at Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in Cobble Hill, and Victory Memorial Hospital (now SUNY Downstate at Bay Ridge).
Indeed, the report called Downstate’s partnership with, and acquisition of two hospitals, “a major cause of Downstate’s fiscal stress.”
“SUNY Downstate’s fiscal condition is dire, and it needs all hands on deck if it is going to survive,” said DiNapoli. The report lists the hospital’s operating deficit for 2011 at $117 million.