NUMC to get near $110M infusion of state money, CEO confirms

Nassau University Medical Center will get a state bailout of $109.6 million — one of the most significant investments in the county's safety-net hospital in recent years — to reduce its deficit and help reform the beleaguered institution under new leadership, the hospital's newly installed CEO confirmed.

The state aid, more than double the $50 million from 2025, was revealed in a presentation to the health system's board of directors Thursday by its new CEO, Thomas W. Stokes, after officials got state confirmation five days before Gov. Kathy Hochul presents  her budget on Jan. 20. 

The funding includes $82.1 million awarded through the state Department of Health’s Vital Access Provider Assurance Program, which funnels cash infusions to financially struggling hospitals, and $27.5 million through an intergovernmental transfer from  an enhanced Medicaid funding formula tied to the COVID-19 public health emergency. The combined funding is expected to reduce the hospital’s projected 2026 operating loss from $167.1 million to $82.5 million, officials said. NUMC currently has a total debt of over $1.4 billion, Newsday previously reported.  

State Health Commissioner Dr. James V. McDonald in December 2024 required then-board chairman Matthew Bruderman to conduct a public search for NUMC's next CEO and create a detailed plan for reducing operating deficits in order to get $83 million more in emergency state funding. NUMC met the criteria, an NUMC spokesman said, having hired Stokes and submitting a financial plan.  

The money — some of which has already been disbursed — comes as Stokes takes the reins of the 530-bed main hospital in East Meadow, the A. Holly Patterson Nursing Home in Uniondale, and of county jail inmate care and community health centers. Stokes, 54, a former chief financial officer of Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan, was hired in November by a new board led by Hochul-appointee Stuart Rabinowitz, a former president of Hofstra University.

 "I am deeply committed to restoring and strengthening this hospital for the patients and communities who depend on us," Stokes said in a statement before the meeting. "Gov. Hochul’s support affirms that our work is headed in the right direction. With this critical investment, we can continue building a stronger, more stable future for NUMC — one that delivers the quality, access, and accountability our residents deserve."

To help achieve financial stability, Stokes said the hospital must create affiliations with other hospitals while negotiating provider contracts.

"Our rates that we get for the care that we provide are quite poor," Stokes said. "Our Medicaid base rate is about 60% less than our peer organizations and we are far, far below the local area hospitals."

The hospital is "grateful" for the funding and the governor's commitment to stabilizing, rather than closing, the hospital, "but we need more," Rabinowitz said near the end of Thursday's meeting.

"We are not done by any stretch of the imagination asking for state aid," Rabinowitz said.

Beyond reaching financial stability, Stokes said his plans for NUMC range from updating its emergency management plan, to getting "potential funding" through affiliations with other hospitals and working with community organizations and state government to link "human services and the health services" because "we’re dealing with largely the same population." The hospital must also reduce "completely unacceptable" wait times.

"I’m hearing 30 days for an ambulatory care appointment, 30-plus percent no-show rates for appointments, two-hour waits," Stokes added.

Stokes also hopes to be "highly, highly visible" to the NUMC community.

"One of my promises when we were going through the interview process ...   was I was going to be the guy to show up in the cafeteria," the CEO said on day four of his tenure. "I’m sad to say it’s only happened once so far."

Hochul last May restructured the board to transfer power from county to state lawmakers after Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman and his appointees refused to make leadership changes or comply with the state's requests to qualify for funding through the program for financially distressed hospitals.

"NUMC’s previous leadership left the hospital in a deep financial hole because of years of mismanagement and an outright refusal to meet the state’s basic oversight requirements, putting patient care at risk," Gordon Tepper, a spokesman for Hochul, said in a statement emailed to Newsday. "Gov. Hochul stepped in with this VAPAP funding because the new team is finally complying with those standards and putting NUMC back on a path to fiscal stability and quality care."

Previous leadership has rejected that assertion, with its previous CEO claiming the state had caused the hospital's finances to worsen by not giving its share of financial aid the hospital is entitled to receive.

Bruderman, a businessman and major Republican donor from Centre Island, pushed back against the state, giving the CEO post to NUMC's general counsel, Megan C. Ryan. Under political pressure as Hochul was getting ready to announce a state takeover of the board, Blakeman cut short Bruderman's term last April.

Blakeman has since won reelection as county executive by more than 35,000 votes and announced a run for governor. He is the presumptive state Republican Party nominee and is likely to face Hochul in November's general election.