According Alan D. Aviles, president of the city’s Health and Hospitals Corp., reductions in Medicaid reimbursement, sharp increases in uninsured patients and rising costs of labor, medical supplies and drugs were responsible for the cuts. Mr. Aviles said that the system would probably be announcing more cuts in a month or two.
The city’s hospitals face a $316 million shortfall for the coming fiscal year, and the proposed cuts will save the system $105 million, according to the report.
The state health commissioner, speaking on behalf of the governor, said that the state is still negotiating the distribution of the state’s federal stimulus money, and the governor is considering initiatives such as increasing the reimbursement rates for hospitals that treat uninsured patients.
Read the Times’ report on New York City public hospital system job cuts.
