SUNY Taps Brooklyn Health Partners To Run Full-Service Hospital At LICH

Some breaking news on the LICH front from WNYC:

The group would retain LICH as a medium-size hospital with 300 to 400 inpatient beds, and part of the campus would be developed as 1,000 residential apartments, one-third of which would be designated “affordable.” Formal negotiations begin Friday and have 30 days to conclude.

Groups representing the local neighborhood and the doctors and other staff members of LICH greeted the news enthusiastically.

“I am relieved that the bid is going to a full-service hospital and that Brooklyn Health Partners has demonstrated a true commitment in providing medical service to downtown Brooklyn that hopefully includes a smooth transition and very few layoffs,” said Sue Raboy, the coordinator of Patients for LICH. “They took the time to speak with and listen to community members and to familiarize themselves with the neighborhood served by LICH.”

One of the members of the Review Committee, Fred Hyde, said that Tennessee-based Quorum Health Resources, the main financial entity behind Brooklyn Health Partners, has a good reputation.

“They’re the nation’s largest manager of non-profit hospitals,” said Hyde, a former hospital executive who teaches at Columbia University and consults with health care unions. “And while they don’t appear to have any experience in this particular region, they’re very good at what they do.”

I'm not one to count the chickens before they're hatched, but I'm cautiously optimistic.