Copy of Letter to Boards of HHC, Coney Island Hospital and Univ. Group Medical Assoc. RE: Postponement of Board Vote
Correspondence
November 7, 1996

3 pages
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Case Files, Campaign to Save our Public Hospitals v. Giuliani Hardbacks. Copy of Letter to Boards of HHC, Coney Island Hospital and Univ. Group Medical Assoc. RE: Postponement of Board Vote, 1996. 8aa8927b-6835-f011-8c4e-002248226c06. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/0af864d0-a5b1-4c83-8f28-d3f0928a0c61/copy-of-letter-to-boards-of-hhc-coney-island-hospital-and-univ-group-medical-assoc-re-postponement-of-board-vote. Accessed July 26, 2025.
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COMPTROLLER OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK ! CENTRE STREET NEW YORK, NY 10007-2341 (212) 669-3500 ALAN G. HEVESI COMPTROLLER November 7. 1996 Board of Directors Health and Hospitals Corporation Board Members Coney Island Hospital Community Advisory Board Board Members University Group Medical Associates, P.C. Dear Colleagues: The HHC board is about to vote on whether to transfer Coney Island Hospital to Primary Health Systems. The vote will be taken without a reasonable opportunity for interested parties -- including the board itself -- to fully review the written agreements, and to get outstanding questions answered. I request that the board postpone its vote until interested parties have had sufficient time to review the relevant documents -- including, at minimum, the sublease and the collateral agreements. I hope that the HHC board shows real independence and withholds its approval until the outstanding questions have been answered. I have attached my analysis of what the outstanding questions are. Others could probably expand on it. In particular, I request that the Coney Island Hospital Community Advisory Board (the “CAB”) and University Group Medical Associates, P.C. (the “P.C.”) provide me and the HHC board with their own analyses. In their roles as representatives of Coney Island Hospital patients and doctors, the CAB and the PC are in a unique position to comment on whether the proposal is likely to meet medical and other needs of the hospital’s patients. Maria Mitchell said that this is an “historic” agreement. I agree with her. That is why HHC should not rush into it before the affected parties have a chance to review it for themselves. The sublease was first released to the entire HHC board on October 24, and to the hospital’s Community Advisory Board, October 30. The administration never officially distributed the sublease to other interested parties. To the best of my knowledge, this includes, among others, the Brooklyn Borough President, the hospital’s medical staff, HHC’s Council of Community Advisory Boards, the City Comptroller, and the City Council. Made From 1009 Recycled Paper Moreover, the board’s October 24 and 30 briefings referred to additional agreements that are not stated in the sublease as distributed to the board -- such as the price of the sublease, the conditions for closing and PHS-NY” capital commitments. These items are apparently covered in additional, collateral agreements. But the documents stating the additional agreements have not yet been released -- even to the HHC board. For example, through informal channels, my office previously received the August draft of both the sublease and an additional document stating agreements with PHS. The board’s briefing book includes the current version of the sublease, but not the current version of the other document. What happened to it? Last month, there was a joint public hearing of HHC and the City Health department. Shortly before the hearing, HHC released a summary of the proposed sublease, but not the actual document. This is unfortunate because the sublease contains major provisions that were not in the summary. These include, for example, ° the provisions relating to PHS’ authority to take out a mortgage, » its authority to sublet to another health care provider J its “right to manage Access to health care in such manner as it may deem appropriate so as to avoid Excess Incurrence” of indigent care. Additional details were subsequently released at the October 31 HHC board meeting -- most notably, PHS-NY’s policy statement on charity care, which indicates its definition of who is “able to pay” and the associated sliding scale. I call for a new public hearing, where the community can comment on the actual documents, and not just the administration’s summary. There are a large number of questions that are still unresolved. I have been raising many of them for over a year now. I just received the sublease, but, even after an initial review, it is already evident that the document does not resolve my questions -- e.g., whether PHS-NY will maintain Coney Island’s mission of providing care to everyone who needs care regardless of ability to pay, and whether PHS-NY will provide all the services the community needs, or simply those services that are profitable. A year ago, in an analysis of the Offering Memoranda, I warned that a process had been created whereby “the City will take ‘the best offer’, whether or not it results in lower costs and/or better service. That is because the Memoranda set no objective standard for evaluating offers and determining the impact on the City's costs and on service delivery. The offers will just be measured against one another, and the best one will win, whether or not it reduces costs and/or improves service.” Unfortunately, the results appear to have confirmed that warning. Furthermore, we appear to be privatizing for the ideological purpose of privatizing. Made from 100% Recvcled Paper The following items are attached: » My most recent analysis of fundamental issues that have yet to be resolved. Listed under each are examples of specific questions that still need to be answered. No decision should be made until these questions are satisfactorily answered. ° A table attached to PHS’s testimony at the October 8, 1996 hearings of the New York State Assembly. The table contains the Cleveland hospitals’ estimates of their indigent care costs between FY93 and FY96, which show that PHS is providing less indigent care than the prior owners. The HHC board was given the testimony, but conveniently not the attached table. ° My office’s analysis of the PHS table, dealing with changes in the costs of indigent care from 1993-94 to 1996, which shows that care for the working poor (those above the poverty line who generally do not have any health care insurance) fell by about 30% at St. Alexis and about 39% at Deaconess. The table also shows a drop in total uncompensated care. This includes not only the working poor (those above the poverty line), but also the most destitute (those who are below the poverty line). For total uncompensated care, the drop at St. Alexis was 17% and, at Deaconess, 47%. . » A listing of Coney Island Hospitals clinics and the levels of service these clinics have provided during each of the last ten years. If PHS-NY were to maintain the current level of out-patient services, this is what they would have to maintain. Thank you for your consideration. IfI or my staff can be of any further assistance, please let me know. Sincerely, Alan G. Hevesi AGH:sn:brs Encl. cc: Mayor Giuliani Speaker Peter Vallone Borough Presidents Chairwoman Mitchell President Marcos HHC Council of Community Advisory Boards