Wall Street, private equity firms, and big out-of-state hospital chains want to take over New York hospitals. That would be a disaster for New York patients. NYSNA is fighting back.

New York is the only state that prohibits for-profit companies from operating hospitals. Other states have tried for-profit healthcare. The results? The for-profit operators lay off RNs, cut staffing, slash services for "unprofitable patients," and gut community hospitals. Wait times go up. ERs get slammed. A Duke University study found that patient deaths spike when hospitals switch to a for-profit model.

doreen_gattanas_01_rev.jpg "Many working class people desperately need public healthcare. Nurses are rallying, speaking out at City Hall and Albany, for safe staffing and improved funding, and against the travesty of privatization. As one of the most trusted professions, our voice makes a difference." -Doreen Gatanas, RN, Elmhurst Hospital

One of their first steps to invade New York is to water down Certificate of Need. New York's Certificate of Need (CON) process ensures patients get a voice when hospital administration wants to open or close units: it blocks for-profit companies from operating in hospitals. In 2009, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a shadowy think tank supported by the Koch brothers, drafted model legislation to gut the CON regulation. 

NYSNA nurses raised the alarm and defeated three attempts by Wall Street and private equity firms to take over hospitals in the 2013 Albany legislative session. But Wall Street has vowed to try again. 

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