A community-backed plan to build a new hospital on SUNY Downstate’s campus is under consideration from an advisory panel mapping out the hospital’s future, according to a source familiar with the matter.
The Downstate community advisory board, tasked with issuing recommendations by June 1 to revamp University Hospital in East Flatbush, is considering a plan to preserve the bulk of inpatient services devised by the community group Brooklyn for Downstate. The organization, which consists of clergy members, local leaders and union members, fiercely opposed a state-sanctioned proposal last year to shutter inpatient care at Downstate, and instead wants to build a 250-bed hospital and invest in emergency services.
The community-backed plan is not the only proposal on the table, as the advisory board considers five different scenarios outlining renovations of the cash-strapped medical center. But the board’s review of this proposal, released in opposition to Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan last year to turn Downstate into an outpatient hub, signals the potential for members to recommend preserving inpatient beds.
Brooklyn for Downstate’s proposal, released in December, calls on the state to invest in an emergency room expansion, maternal health services, cardiothoracic services and a kidney transplant center. Though the plan decreases inpatient capacity from Downstate’s current 342 beds, it suggests building a brand-new hospital.
It’s unclear how much the plan would cost. Consultants working for SUNY estimate that a new hospital could cost as much as $3.2 billion, but the coalition says it does not estimate that costs would be that high.
The board has solicited information from Brooklyn for Downstate about its plan, sending a list of more than 40 questions late last month about the costs, impacts on future volume and construction logistics. The organization has yet to provide answers to the board, leaving the review process at a standstill, according to a source familiar with the discussions.
Members of the organization say that the board’s requests for information require more time, as well as input from consultants who can estimate hospital volumes and determine cost projections. The communication process has created fears that the advisory panel is not seriously considering the community’s proposal, according to Redetha Abrahams-Nichols, a member of the steering committee at Brooklyn for Downstate.
“We want to be sure that this is not a dress rehearsal,” Abrahams-Nichols told Crain’s. “We want this proposal to have a chance.”
Abrahams-Nichols said that the organization is planning to answer the board’s questions by May 1 – one month before the deadline to come up with new recommendations. A spokesperson for the board did not respond to a question about whether the May deadline would be enough time for members to review the proposal.
The community plan is the only proposal being considered by the board that includes a new hospital, said Dr. Frederick Kowal, a board member and president of the labor union United University Professionals. The union, which spent $2 million on lobbying efforts to oppose last year’s plan to close Downstate, is backing the Brooklyn for Downstate proposal.
