Proposed NYU Langone Hub hospital raises concerns

Experts have raised concerns that Nassau University Medical Center could feel the financial effects if NYU Langone builds a $3 billion, privately funded hospital complex on the grounds of Nassau Community College.

From its beginnings in 1935 as Meadowbrook Hospital, NUMC has been Nassau County’s only public hospital, funded by taxpayer dollars and expected to treat all patients, regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.

County Executive Bruce Blakeman announced the proposal for the new hospital two days after the county voted to give the lease for the 72-acre Hub development to Las Vegas Sands, which plans to build an integrated resort that would include a large casino.

NUMC is two and a half miles from the NCC campus and the Hub. Blakeman’s announcement did not mention it.

Nurse practitioner Theudia Chambers lives in Uniondale and works for NUMC. She made it clear that she was not speaking as a representative for her employer, but her reaction to Blakeman’s words was blunt.

“We already have a medical facility six to eight minutes from the development site,” Chambers said. “What is the need for an NYU Langone development on NCC property?”

She noted that NUMC is a teaching hospital with a Level 1 trauma center, airlift capability, a renowned burn unit that treats Nassau County firefighters, and the capacity to handle mass casualties. When Hofstra University hosted a presidential debate in 2012, NUMC was the hospital designated to treat then President Barack Obama if he needed medical services.

“So how is it good enough for the president, but not good enough for Blakeman to support?” Chambers said.

She added that she believed the proportion of less-insured patients coming to NUMC for treatment might increase if a new NYU Langone facility were built — which could take five years.

“Underinsured and uninsured come here, including undocumented immigrants in abundance,” Chambers said. “It’s as if there’s a sign at JFK airport pointing them to NUMC. The private facilities can stabilize patients and send them out the door, but a public facility must treat beyond stabilization. We might get half the bill paid (from public funds) based on the illness, and the other half not paid at all.”

Chambers said she was not against new development — not even the casino — but she felt that NUMC was not included in the talks about community benefits promised by Las Vegas Sands.

The concerns she expressed were amplified by Allison O’Brien Silva, who leads the Say No to the Casino Civic Association.

“Our only public hospital serves a great need for many people in our county,” Silva said of NUMC. “I understand it is struggling a bit financially, and I don’t know what plans the county or the state might have with it.”

Silva said she also worried about the burden to the region’s infrastructure represented by two multibillion-dollar projects within the 110 acres encompassed by the Hub and the proposed hospital. And she wanted to know why the hospital complex was never mentioned before the transfer of the Hub lease.

“I met twice with my legislator, Rich Nicolello,” said Silva, who lives in Manhasset. “I asked him what else could be put in the Hub besides a casino. He said that RXR’s Lighthouse project (floundered, and) there is nothing else that can be done with the space. He never once mentioned the medical facility.”

Meanwhile, NUMC has indeed been struggling financially. Its 2023 budget report projected a $174 million operating deficit. NuHealth, the healthy system that oversees it, claims it is instituting measures to address the shortfall.

County Legislator Siela Bynoe has called for a public hearing to demand that NuHealth clarify its plans to regain its financial footing.

In a statement to the Herald on June 9, Bynoe affirmed the importance of NUMC while expressing approval of the NYU Langone facility. She views Langone’s proposed expansion as “a tremendous opportunity” to care for the county’s growing population of seniors, and to provide more employment and training for young people entering the medical field.

“In the event that this concept comes to fruition,” Bynoe stated, “it is important for NYU Langone’s expansion to occur in a manner that complements, rather than competes with, Nassau University Medical Center, which has long served a vital role as a Level 1 trauma center and a regional safety net hospital for economically disadvantaged patients. NUMC is a critical link in our regional matrix of healthcare services that must be preserved.”