PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Jo Anne Simon, Assembly Member from New York State Assembly, on the Local Input to Community Healthcare Act
1:36:17
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3 min
Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon testifies about the Local Input to Community Healthcare Act, a bill passed in both houses awaiting the governor's signature. The act aims to improve the hospital closure process by requiring public notice and community engagement when hospitals seek to close or reduce critical services.
- The bill was inspired by Simon's experience with the closure of Long Island College Hospital in 2013
- It addresses issues such as the closure of maternity departments and the lack of community input in hospital closure decisions
- The act would require engagement and notice to communities, filling a gap in current regulations that don't apply to hospital closures
Jo Anne Simon
1:36:17
Assembly Thank you very much.
1:36:20
I'm Assembly member Joanne Simon representing the 52nd AD in Brooklyn.
1:36:26
I wanted to thank chairs in our seats and showman and for this opportunity, and councilwoman Rivera for your support for the Litch Act and the resolution.
1:36:39
So let me just say that this bill that we passed, we passed in both houses, the local input to Community Healthcare Act.
1:36:48
It was born out of my experience as a community leader when Long Island College Hospital was closed.
1:36:55
And that was closed in 2013, and I've been fighting ever since that time.
1:37:00
To have hospital closure be a process that makes sense because it doesn't right now at all.
1:37:07
So this bill, this particular bill, which we await the governor's signature, would require public notice, and that would be the community boards to various select officials, various entities throughout the state, obviously.
1:37:19
And community engagement when a hospital seeks to either close, the entire hospital or closing unit that provides emergency, maternity, mental health, or substance use care.
1:37:32
And there's a particular reason for that.
1:37:33
As you may know, maternity departments, there have been 10 maternity departments in New York state that have closed in the past decade.
1:37:42
If you live in certain parts of the Hudson Valley, for example, you have to go to Troy, to deliver.
1:37:48
It's an hour or more away.
1:37:51
So we have this big issue in the state.
1:37:53
So you can see here in the city, obviously, it's very easy to see how there could be local impacts.
1:38:01
But it's also a big issue in for community hospitals in various parts of the state.
1:38:06
Now, Litch was the a victim of the Burger Commission.
1:38:10
And one of the things we learned through that process, of course, is that the community had no means for input.
1:38:16
Right?
1:38:17
The community kept raising certain issues, but we were basically told it didn't really matter.
1:38:22
There was really no data that would support the community's concerns.
1:38:27
But the reality is that we were told various happy talk various talking points.
1:38:32
Nobody goes to Litch anymore.
1:38:34
Everybody goes to Manhattan.
1:38:36
That was not true.
1:38:38
And this served the communities of Redhook, who's a federally designated healthcare emergency location.
1:38:47
And we had people die because the ambulances when they switched from Litch's ambulances because they couldn't find the addresses within Red Hook Houses.
1:38:57
Because they weren't familiar, if you're familiar with public housing very often, the addresses don't make a lot of sense.
1:39:02
Right?
1:39:03
And so time is of the essence.
1:39:05
And we were really literally losing people.
1:39:08
So there's no public hearing required to close a hospital right now.
1:39:13
The only thing the law requires is a public hearing 30 days after the closure decision is made, which is a little too late too little too late.
1:39:23
And if I can just wrap up, there is some community engagement now with regard to regulations and guidance from the Department of Health, but that's only regulatory and it doesn't apply to hospital closures.
1:39:36
And so I just wanted to say that the Litch Act when it signed will in fact require the engagement, and the notice to communities that you have been talking about.
1:39:48
So I thank you for this opportunity.
