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Q&A
Council Member Yusef Salaam questions H+H leadership about Harlem Hospital budget and infrastructure
1:07:54
·
5 min
Council Member Yusef Salaam inquires about budget cuts, staffing, and capital projects at Harlem Hospital. Dr. Mitchell Katz and John Ulberg from NYC Health + Hospitals respond, addressing concerns about service levels, collaborations, and infrastructure needs.
- H+H leadership clarifies that there are no planned cuts for Harlem Hospital and highlights a collaboration with Hospital for Special Surgery.
- Discussion of capital needs and infrastructure risks at Harlem Hospital, including explanation of why some hospitals received flood mitigation funding.
- Conversation about energy resilience upgrades and the challenges of finding initial capital for investments that could lead to long-term savings.
Yusef Salaam
1:07:54
Thank you for your testimony and good morning.
Mitchell Katz
1:07:56
Good morning.
Yusef Salaam
1:07:59
On budget cuts and staffing at Harlem Hospital specifically, the fiscal year twenty twenty six executive plan reduces health and hospitals budget by over $1,400,000,000 nearly 45 a 45% cut compared to the fiscal year adopted budget.
1:08:14
How will these cuts affect patient care services, patient care services and staffing at Harlem Hospital specifically?
1:08:21
And are there any planned reductions in staff or service for Harlem that the council should be aware of?
1:08:29
And also, what safeguards are in place to ensure Harlem residents do not experience diminished levels of service?
Mitchell Katz
1:08:36
Yeah.
1:08:36
I think Harlem has been doing super well.
1:08:40
I think George Leconte is an excellent CEO for Harlem Hospital, and we have a very long standing chief medical officer, Doctor.
1:08:50
Maurice Wright.
1:08:51
We have no planned cuts.
1:08:53
It's always at this hearing a little bit challenging to, because the slice of the budget that you see is the city levy.
1:09:03
The city levy as we talked about at the beginning is only 1.5 of our actual budget.
1:09:09
And so a lot of the movements just are about cash flow and which year the expense is going to come in.
1:09:18
Our overall budget is 13, are we three?
John Ulberg
1:09:22
Yeah, three.
Mitchell Katz
1:09:23
13 point three billion dollars.
1:09:25
So most of the work that happens at Harlem we are funding through patient revenue.
1:09:35
And one of the services at Harlem that I'm most proud of, and I think you will see tremendous growth, is we have a very nice collaboration now with the Hospital for Special Surgery where they are sending their doctors to Harlem to do surgeries.
1:09:54
Because as you know, people do not like to leave the village of Harlem and do not want, even though for joint replacements, many people choose to go to HHS because of their extensive experience.
1:10:07
And now through this collaboration that's headed by a African American orthopedist who sees this as his life mission, It's wonderful to see that the that the patients at Harlem are getting an HHS experience at Harlem.
1:10:23
And I think that's what we should aim for, you know, everywhere.
Yusef Salaam
1:10:28
Thank you.
1:10:29
Lastly, the capital projects and infrastructure upgrades, the executive capital plan does not include upgrades for Harlem Hospital meanwhile meanwhile Bellevue, Kohler, and Woodhall are receiving significant capital investments for flood mitigation and infrastructure.
1:10:47
Can you tell us why Harlem Hospital is excluded from the major capital upgrades in this plan and what infrastructure risks exist at Harlem Hospital especially given its location and age?
1:10:57
And lastly, will H and H commit to a feasibility study for flood protection or energy resilience upgrades at Harlem Hospital?
Mitchell Katz
1:11:06
Right.
1:11:07
So the the capital needs of Harlem are on our $2,000,000,000 list.
1:11:14
So we struggle, right?
1:11:17
I mean we have 2,000,000,000 of infrastructure needs.
1:11:21
We know that the city is not going to be able to support all of that in in any one year.
1:11:28
Harlem, there was a major issue that I was involved in, was the leaking roof, and we were able to to deal with that.
1:11:38
I'm not aware, and your question will make me look back, I'm not aware that we have a flood risk so much at Harlem.
1:11:46
I'm trying to think about the area around it.
1:11:49
Obviously, the flood mitigations at Met and Bellevue were being paid for by federal FEMA dollars that were given to us after Superstorm Sandy.
1:12:05
So, sadly our history as a country is we wait for the disaster and after the disaster we give you a mitigation.
1:12:14
It would be wiser to do mitigations before you have the disaster.
1:12:18
But that's not generally how it works, right?
1:12:20
We got a brand new South Brooklyn Health hospital.
1:12:25
Why?
1:12:26
And it's wonderful that we have it.
1:12:27
Because the Superstorm Sandy took out the old hospital, Right?
1:12:32
So, you know, we will continue to prioritize Harlem.
1:12:36
It's a very much appreciated hospital in that community.
1:12:41
It's well loved, and we will continue to watch over it.
Yusef Salaam
1:12:46
And just in terms of that, James, if you if you if you will, about the energy resilience upgrades?
Mitchell Katz
1:12:54
Yeah.
1:12:54
I don't it's not an area I know much about.
John Ulberg
1:12:57
No.
1:12:57
I I think well, we keep close, you know, touch Harlem, and and it is it is reaching the point where, like, a pipe will break.
1:13:07
Right?
1:13:07
And then that affects operations, which then, you know, affects the budget.
1:13:11
But I think energy resiliency is something that we're looking at across health and hospitals.
1:13:15
We become more energy efficient, right, we'll make an investment like a better air conditioning system, or better heating and ventilation system that ultimately, you know, will save us money.
1:13:26
But it's finding that initial capital dollars that so we can make that investment is where we struggle.
1:13:31
But we we try every day, you know, to find, you know, capital dollars within our budget and put those dollars to the best use we can.
Yusef Salaam
1:13:41
Thank you.
1:13:41
You.