New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council agreed on an $82.1 billion budget for fiscal year 2017, and the biggest new spending item is a $700 million funding boost for the city's public hospital system, according to Bloomberg.
New York Health + Hospitals has struggled financially in recent years. Numerous factors have contributed to the 11-hospital system's financial troubles, including cuts in federal aid to hospitals that care for uninsured patients. New York Health + Hospitals provides care to 1.2 million patients every year, most of whom are uninsured or on Medicai
The funding boost included in the budget represents a planned 53 percent spending increase on New York Health + Hospitals from 2014 through 2020, according to Bloomberg. However, even with the additional funds, the public hospital system faces a $2 billion deficit by the end of the decade.
To help close the budget gap in coming years, the public hospital system implemented a turnaround plan, which depends on attracting more paying patients and getting more people to sign up for MetroPlus, its health insurance plan.
More articles on healthcare finance:
4 Louisiana hospitals land in bankruptcy
This nonprofit aims to eliminate $1B in medical debt for the nation's poorest
5 healthcare CFOs in the headlines