SUNY Board of Trustees vote to close LICH

I heard that SUNY Downstate was also denied bail out from the State, so it appears Downstate is also in danger.

I heard that SUNY Downstate was also denied bail out from the State, so it appears Downstate is also in danger.

SUNY Downstate is right across the street from King's County Hospital so right there you have two large systems pretty much competiting for the same community patients.

As if that wasn't enough whatever the good intentions were SUNY Downstate found itself taking over Victory Memorial and later LICH. NYS actually recommended Downstate close it's Flatbush inpatient services and move them to the Cobble Hill campus (LICH) since that area is not as over served, but administrators balked and went in an other direction.

SUNY Downstate Medical Center in fiancnial trouble, could cut back services, says state official - NY Daily News

King's County isn't going anywhere so it remains to be seen what SUNY Downstate is going to do to shore up it's operations and restore itself to financial health.

NO JOKE: Another temporary restraining order to keep LICH open for care! | Online Exclusive | NYS Nurses Association

It is Saint Vincent's all over again in a way, especially now that the Quinn woman has voiced her opinions.

The courts/judge can do whatever he likes but in the end the handwriting is on the wall, sooner or later LICH or Downstate Flatbush are going to close. SUNY just does not have the funds to keep both running and each are bleeding millions of dollars per week in red ink. Maybe shedding Victory Memorial in Bayridge could help, but havent' looked at those numbers.

According to the latest NYS numbers LICH had the lowest inpatient bed occupancy rate of all the hospitals in Brooklyn. Coming in dead last behind such places as Wyckoff, Interfaith, and Brooklyn hospitals.

Again like Saint Vincent's the local population of the LICH area simply by large margins choose to go elsewhere for care, usually into Manhattan or Long Island. No one has come up with a plan to reverse that trend, and many do not think it is possible.

IIRC NYP and Mount Sinai have or are looking to open ACS right in LICH's backyard.That is the biggest salvo in the latest healthcare wars. Instead of opening full service hospitals to compete, healthcare networks are opening physican group practices and ambulatory /urgent care centers. Such facilities are cheaper to build, staff and manage than full service hospitals and serve to direct patients back to the "mother facility" for major care that cannot be provided in an outpatient setting.

The tragic car accident in Williamsburg last month that wiped out that young Jewish couple and their baby shows this story; they were going *into* Manhattan for delivery of the child.