The ongoing saga between Nassau University Medical Center and its former president and chief executive continued last week, after hospital officials filed a lawsuit against Megan Ryan, citing misconduct, self-enrichment and a deliberate sabotage of hospital affairs.
Over the last few months, operations at NUMC and its public benefit group, the Nassau Health Care Corporation, were taken over by New York state in accordance with provisions that passed in the state budget in May. The board was restructured to include 11 members. Gov. Kathy Hochul named most of the new board members, based on powers given to her in the most recent budget bill, and also designated the chairman, Stuart Rabinowitz, former president at Hofstra University.
The board announced Ryan’s firing in June, stating the termination was with “cause,” according to a letter issued by Dr. Richard Becker, the new interim chief executive of the hospital. The letter showed that Ryan authorized payments of $3.5 million to herself and others around May 30, after the state legislature began its revamp of the board. It further stated that $1 million was more than amounts that were due to Ryan and other employees. The payments, according to the board, allegedly served no valid purpose.
At an Aug. 13 board meeting, according to unofficial minutes on NUMC’s website, the board ratified the act by Becker “in his capacity as interim president and CEO to discontinue the administrative leave” of Ryan and to terminate her employment for cause, effective June 18.
Ryan and her legal representatives announced their intent to sue the hospital and its parent corporation in July, alleging wrongful termination, lost wages, and intentional reputational damage. Alex Hartzband, an attorney with Grubin Law Group representing Ryan, said that “Ryan did absolutely nothing wrong.”
“The payments she authorized were permissible under hospital policy and consistent with years of established practice by the CEOs who preceded her,” he stated in the news release.
In the same release, Ryan said, “My top priority has always been giving people the best possible health care and protecting our dedicated employees.”
The lawsuit filed by the hospital’s new leadership accuses Ryan of abusing her power by enriching herself and other administrators, seeking reimbursement for luxury expenses and destroying records, among other accusations. Hospital officials stated that Ryan’s tenure was marked by a collapse of financial discipline and ethical leadership.
Nassau County Democrats, including Legislators Seth Koslow and Delia DeRiggi-Whitton sounded alarms in late-July, after a Newsday report found that NUMC’s former executives charged a $1,400 restaurant bill to the hospital in late-May. Koslow called for local, state and federal prosecutors to investigate the “lavish and questionable” spending; the alleged “improper” payouts; and the “unexplained theft and recovery” of documents from Matthew Bruderman’s home — the hospital’s former board chairman who was abruptly fired in April.
The minority caucus further addressed their concerns at an Aug. 14 news conference in Mineola and were critical of County Executive Bruce Blakeman’s support of the former hospital board. DeRiggi-Whitton told reporters: “Hospitals aren’t playgrounds for political appointees.”
“Let me be clear, if you shredded 40 containers of documents and deleted hard drives,” she said in reference to the lawsuit allegations against Ryan that state she destroyed hospital records, “you’re not protecting the public. You’re hiding from them. We deserve answers.”
“Bruce Blakeman didn’t just look away — he opened the vault,” Koslow said. “He opened the vault for Meg Ryan at Nassau University Medical Center.”
“The NUMC board is an independent board which operates separate and apart from county government,” County Executive Blakeman said in an emailed statement after the news conference. “These allegations are being made by desperate Democrat legislators who make up lies because they have no record to run on, and can’t refute that we are safest county in America and I haven’t raised taxes in four years.”
Prior to the state’s takeover of the hospital system, Ryan and Bruderman were pursuing legal action against the state for its alleged failure to comply with federal Medicare reimbursement laws, claiming the state orchestrated a ruse to withhold Medicaid Disproportionate Share Hospital payments that the hospital was entitled to.
A spokesperson for Ryan, in an emailed statement to the Herald, said what occurred at the Aug. 13 board meeting was “part of a political strategy to cover up $1 billion in Medicaid fraud claims filed by Ms. Ryan against the State of New York. These claims involve deliberate violations of federal Medicaid law and other agreements between the state and the federal government.”
The statement added that the “board and leadership” at NUMC have waged “an aggressive campaign” against Ryan and additional corruption.
“If the political hacks who have been put in charge of NHCC to cover up the state’s massive fraud want a fight — they’ll get one,” the statement said. “We have the evidence, the witnesses and the facts to ensure Ms. Ryan will be vindicated on all fronts.”
The governor’s office, in a written statement to the Herald in response to the lawsuit, said: “The breathtaking level of waste, abuse, and mismanagement under NUMC’s previous leadership is an insult to taxpayers and a betrayal of the hospital’s mission. The recent revelations further validate Gov. Hochul’s decisive action to restructure the board and restore accountability to this critical safety-net institution.”
