He once represented NUMC. Now he's speaking for its fired CEO.

The same week Albany lawmakers were voting to give Gov. Kathy Hochul the authority to overhaul Nassau University Medical Center's leadership, former CEO Megan Ryan signed off on a $49,900 contract with a Tennessee-based public relations firm to represent the hospital through August. 

Despite being paid to work for NUMC, the firm is no longer representing the hospital and instead working on behalf of Ryan, who was fired in June. The county's financial watchdog is alleging the contract amendments may have been designed to bypass public scrutiny. 

Records obtained by Newsday show the firm, Empire Solutions, and its founding principal, Tom Basile, were paid $423,609 over about two years, to promote and defend the cash-strapped hospital through the press, mailers and commercials targeting the surrounding community. Now, as Ryan faces allegations of malfeasance, Basile — a former Newsmax television show host — has become her personal spokesman, issuing statements criticizing the new Hochul-installed leadership. 

According to contracts, invoices and emails Newsday obtained through a public records request, Ryan directed payments to Empire and Basile that may have skirted public contracting rules, officials said, by amending agreements, honoring an expired contract and keeping contract changes below $50,000. Contracts over $50,000 in a 12-month period require the approval of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority, the county's state-appointed fiscal oversight panel.

"Here's someone and a company that was being paid by the hospital for a number of years and now attacks the hospital that has paid him all that time. That's disturbing to me," NIFA Chairman Richard Kessel told Newsday in a recent telephone interview. "Either you're working for the hospital or you are working to defame the hospital — can't have it both ways." 

The criticism of Empire and Basile come as NUMC's new leadership mounts financial and criminal investigations of the hospital's former leaders while suing Ryan, alleging she authorized more than $1 million in wrongful payouts, destroyed documents and reimbursed herself for a Chicago business trip she never took.

Newsday last month reported Ryan authorized NUMC's reimbursement for a $1,437.75 lobster dinner and various Uber charges for outgoing top executives the night before the payouts, just before Hochul announced her pick for new board chairman. Newsday revealed Ryan spent $7,801.88 in late April for three round trip United Airlines tickets for herself and two other executives to attend a conference in Chicago hosted by Becker's Hospital Review, a health care industry publication. The lawsuit against Ryan alleges she never went on the trip but took the reimbursement from the hospital.

Basile, a columnist and author, hosted "America Right Now" on Newsmax TV. He unsuccessfully ran for State Senate in 2018 on the Republican, Conservative and Independence lines and is a former executive director of the New York State Republican Party. 

Basile referred Newsday's questions on Thursday to Bob Driscoll, Empire Solutions' vice president. 

When asked about the firm's role in NUMC's communications, Driscoll said: "It was a privilege to work to advance the public relations goals of NHCC including the development and execution of a broad-based public education campaign to highlight NUMC’s services and the commitment of NHCC to the greater Nassau community. Our contract was result of an RFP process and unanimously approved by the bipartisan NHCC board." 

Driscoll did not directly answer questions about the firm's rate structure. He said the firm ended its representation of the hospital at the end of May and is no longer being compensated. He rejected NIFA and hospital officials' claims that the firm was paid in advance, despite the signing of the May 5 agreement Newsday obtained.

"We believe strongly in the quality of Ms. Ryan’s work as NHCC CEO and President, and we believe she deserves to have professionals around her to defend her from these blatantly political and baseless attacks on her character," Driscoll said. 

NUMC, the 530-bed teaching hospital in East Meadow, is operated by Nassau Health Care Corporation, a public benefit corporation that runs the safety-net institution along with community health centers, the A. Holly Patterson nursing home and inmate care at the county jail.

The quasi-public entity governed by state and county political appointees is more than $1.4 billion in debt.

"Unfortunately, under prior leadership, Empire Solution’s contract was paid in full at the start of the engagement — covering months in which the company did not work for NUMC, while instead making negative remarks about the hospital in the media in an apparent attempt to defend the reputation of the former CEO," said Tommy Meara, NUMC's new spokesman. He was hired shortly after the hospital's new board chairman, Stuart Rabinowitz, and interim CEO Dr. Richard Becker were installed in June.

Empire had been on a $14,000 monthly retainer in January 2024 for "strategic communications, brand development, social-digital and media relations services," according to invoices.   

The firm played a role in Ryan and former NUMC board chair Matthew Bruderman's feud with the state, launching a media blitz in early 2025 asserting the hospital would close if Hochul stepped in and restructured the board of directors. 

A contract agreement between Ryan and Empire gained NIFA approval in 2022 and 2023 but that was not the one that had been executed, NIFA officials told Newsday. Changes to contracts in 2024 and the first half of 2025 also had not been approved, according to NIFA officials. 

"This is yet another example of the poor decisions made under previous leadership. Our new leadership team is committed to what matters most: improving patient care, strengthening community trust, and ensuring that NUMC operates with transparency and accountability," Meara said. 

By Candice Ferrette

candice.ferrette@newsday.comcandiceferrette

Candice Ferrette covers Nassau County government and politics on Long Island. She has been a reporter at Newsday since 2011.