We All Have a Stake in Protecting Care
Healthcare workers and patients throughout the country are fighting back against the proposed cuts to Medicaid that Congress is negotiating right now. NYSNA nurses have been doing our part in New York, marching and calling on members of Congress to not vote for any bill that has cuts to Medicaid. While we are fighting for healthcare justice, we are also bracing for devastation to our healthcare system if the proposed healthcare cuts go through. The Senate recently proposed even more extreme cuts to Medicaid than those that the House of Representatives passed in February.
A Battle on Two Fronts
Unfortunately, nurses not only have to fight against the federal government’s egregious attacks on healthcare but also those from their employers who are exploiting the federal chaos to prioritize their profits over patients. One prime example is NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Health System — one of the wealthiest hospital systems in New York City and the state. On the eve of Nurses Week, NYP announced 2% staffing cuts across the board.
NYSNA nurses are speaking up, pushing back and demanding financial transparency, a reversal of the cuts to frontline staff and guaranteed placement of displaced nurses in the NYP hospital system. We are joining with our union siblings at 1199SEIU and Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 1104 to stop the cuts.
Hospital administrators are planning to lay off 65 NYSNA nurses and nurse practitioners across three campuses — NYP-Columbia, NYP-Brooklyn Methodist Hospital and NYP-Hudson Valley Hospital. The bulk of the cuts are at the flagship Columbia campus and will hit children and terminally ill patients especially hard. NYP plans to close the entire palliative care unit and a pediatric infusion center, forcing children’s families to travel farther for lifesaving care. NYP will also lay off approximately 120 1199SEIU frontline caregivers throughout the NYP system, including registered nurses at NYP-Queens.
NYP already struggles to hire and retain enough nurses for safe staffing, and NYP nurses won staffing arbitrations in two of the units now facing staffing cuts now. Layoffs will lead to more understaffing and less quality care for patients.
Profits Over Patients
The most sickening part of this situation is that NYP can afford to do better. Hospital administrators pointed to looming Medicaid cuts and “macro-economic factors” in deciding to make the sweeping layoffs. But unlike many public, safety-net and rural hospitals around the state where a large portion of hospital revenue comes from Medicaid, only about 14.5% of NYP’s revenue comes from Medicaid.1
NYP finally released its public financials — after announcing the cuts. The system had an 11% profit margin in 2024 across its operations and ended the year with a total of $800 million cash in hand.2 Its first-quarter revenues were up 4% compared to the same period last year.3 That’s very profitable for a nonprofit hospital. Most hospitals would be thrilled.
NYP’s executives are certainly living it up. This is a hospital where over 30 executives make more than $1 million a year and where CEO Steve Corwin made $14.6 million in salary, bonuses and perks in 2023.4 To add insult to injury, Corwin admitted in his town hall address announcing the layoffs that NYP is one of the most financially stable healthcare systems in the country.
These cuts are not necessary. But even if they were, NYP executives chose to cut frontline staff — to the bone! If NYP is so worried about its bottom line, it should cut the fat. These greedy executives should look at their salaries to make cuts — not at their front line, where patients will suffer. There is no way this hospital can “stay amazing” without its dedicated nursing staff!
Setting the Wrong Example
With extreme cuts to Medicaid looming, this is a time when New York’s nonprofit healthcare providers should prioritize protecting quality care for patients, not protecting their profits by making unnecessary cuts to frontline staff and services. If NYP goes unchecked, other hospitals will surely follow its example.
NYSNA is one union — public and private, upstate and downstate, we are all in this together. An injury to one is an injury to all. If Congress passes these cuts, it will devastate rich and poor hospitals alike.
We need to unite as one union and fight back against both Medicaid cuts and staffing cuts. All nurses must continue to be on the frontlines of advocacy for our patients and remind our employers and elected officials to prioritize access to healthcare for all.
SOURCES
1 https://emma.msrb.org/P11811238-P11388363-P11828092.pdf
2 https://emma.msrb.org/P11857176-P11421838-P11865603.pdf
3 https://emma.msrb.org/P21830760.pdf
4 https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/133957095