S T A T E O F N E W Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________
6956--A
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
I N S E N A T E
May 16, 2023
___________
Introduced by Sens. MYRIE, JACKSON, MAY, SALAZAR -- read twice and
ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on
Health -- recommitted to the Committee on Health in accordance with
Senate Rule 6, sec. 8 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered
reprinted as amended and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT in relation to requiring the commissioner of health to develop a
sustainability plan for the state university of New York downstate
medical center
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature hereby finds and
declares that the state university downstate medical center is a vital
component of our state's health care system. As one of three state
hospitals and the only state hospital in the city of New York, it is
incumbent upon the state to ensure that this hospital remains fiscally
viable to continue to provide the health care services that the resi-
dents of central Brooklyn deserve and depend on. The state university
downstate medical center is one of the state's largest safety-net hospi-
tals, which cares for all patients, regardless of their ability to pay.
It predominantly serves people of color, low income, uninsured, underin-
sured, undocumented and at-risk individuals who have limited access to
affordable health care and who are more prone to suffer from serious
disease and face higher morbidity rates than other patients across our
city and state. Last year, the hospital had over three hundred thousand
outpatient visits and has an average of fourteen thousand inpatients
each year. It also provides seven thousand four hundred free health
screenings a year and sponsors over one hundred community service
projects annually.
The legislature further finds that at the height of the pandemic, when
the city of New York was at the epicenter, the state university down-
state medical center stepped up as a COVID-only hospital and provided
EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD11427-02-4
S. 6956--A 2
life-saving care to the sickest New Yorkers without any state funding
support. Serving COVID-only patients exacerbated the existing untenable
financial situation of the hospital, which in large part, is due to
years of state financial neglect and unequitable treatment. Provided
further, the state university downstate medical center is a major part
of the Brooklyn economy and is one of the ten largest employers in
Brooklyn, providing employment to four thousand two hundred people. It's
also responsible for nearly nine hundred million dollars in economic
activity, generating nearly two hundred million dollars in tax revenue.
The hospital is the heart of central Brooklyn and has the largest
medical school in New York city, which offers training in fifty-six
specialties across five schools and colleges and annually educates and
trains nearly one thousand nine hundred students. The medical school
student population is made up of nearly sixty percent students of color,
produces the most physicians of color in the state of New York, and
nearly seventy percent of two thousand twenty-two graduates remained in
New York for their residency. This institution is an essential part in
producing the next generation of health care professionals, which are
desperately needed to sustain our state health care system.
The legislature further finds that the continued operation of the
state university downstate medical center is vital and necessary, and
the state should develop a plan to ensure its future sustainability and
shall provide state funding and other resources necessary to implement
and execute such plan.
§ 2. The commissioner of health, in consultation with the chancellor
of the state university of New York and the employee organizations
representing employees at the state university of New York pursuant to
article 14 of the civil service law, shall develop a sustainability plan
for the state university of New York downstate medical center as estab-
lished pursuant to section 352 of the education law to ensure the hospi-
tal's continued operation in serving the public health care needs of the
Brooklyn community. Such plan shall maintain the state university down-
state medical center as a public state-operated hospital, staffed with
public employees within and under the appointing authority of the state
university of New York. In developing such sustainability plan, the
commissioner shall examine the state university downstate medical
center's finances, management operations, billing practices, current
health care services and delivery model, and any other records, metrics,
or aspects of the hospital the commissioner deems necessary and appro-
priate to adequately assess their direct or indirect effects on the
financial health and viability of the hospital and to determine what
modifications are needed to make the state university downstate medical
center financially sustainable. In assessing the financial health and
viability of the state university downstate medical center, the commis-
sioner shall also examine patient mix demographics, including but not
limited to, the financial challenges posed by the provision of safety
net services to low income, uninsured, underinsured, undocumented and
at-risk individuals. The commissioner shall also assess the current and
potential economic impact of the state university downstate medical
center in Brooklyn and identify any new potential health care service
areas not currently being provided at the state university downstate
medical center, which if provided, would better serve patients and help
ameliorate the hospital's current and future financial situation.
Provided further, the commissioner shall also identify current gaps in
health care services throughout Brooklyn, especially for low income,
uninsured, underinsured, undocumented and at-risk individuals and deter-
S. 6956--A 3
mine whether providing such health care services at the state university
downstate medical center would be beneficial to the future financial
sustainability of the hospital. In making such determination, the
commissioner shall delineate any costs associated with the hospital
providing such services, including but not limited to, personal service
costs, costs for equipment, management costs and capital funding needs.
Provided further, in identifying gaps in current health care services,
the commissioner shall examine, among other health care services, the
feasibility and public health value of establishing and operating a
center for maternal and children's health services at the state univer-
sity downstate medical center to address high rates of maternal morbidi-
ty in Brooklyn and shall delineate all projected costs associated with
the establishment and operation of such center.
The commissioner shall also determine what capital project improve-
ments are required at the state university downstate medical center to
enable the hospital to adequately meet current and future health care
service needs identified as part of the sustainability plan. The commis-
sioner shall also provide an analysis of current emergency room oper-
ations as part of such sustainability plan, which shall include, but
shall not be limited to, patient care and service capacity as well as
improvements needed to adequately address patient service demands and
the technology, equipment and capital infrastructure improvements that
are required to improve patient services and to improve the financial
position of the hospital.
The commissioner shall submit such sustainability plan to the gover-
nor, the temporary president of the senate and the speaker of the assem-
bly by December 31, 2024. The sustainability plan shall serve to inform
the governor in preparation of the 2025-26 executive budget submission.
§ 3. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, all rights
and benefits, including terms and conditions of employment and
protection of civil service and collective bargaining status of all
existing public employees shall be preserved and protected. Nothing in
the sustainability plan required by this act or any provision of this
act shall limit the rights of employees pursuant to a collective
bargaining agreement or alter the existing representational relation-
ships among collective bargaining representatives or the bargaining
relationships between the state university downstate medical center and
any employee organization. Employees of the state university downstate
medical center serving in any new positions or titles resulting from the
implementation of the commissioner's sustainability plan, or any part
thereof, pursuant to this act shall be assigned to the appropriate
existing bargaining units. Prior to the implementation of such sustain-
ability plan, or any part thereof, developed by the commissioner pursu-
ant to this act, the state university of New York shall inform affected
employee organizations of any potential impact on its members or collec-
tive bargaining unit as a result of such implementation.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
