HEALTHCARE WORKERS SPOKE OUT AND DEMANDED AN IMMEDIATE END TO NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN’S CUTS TO STAFFING
For immediate release: June 11, 2025
Contact: Andrea Penman-Lomeli | press@nysna.org | 347-559-3169
Kristi Barnes | press@nysna.org | 646-853-4489
HEALTHCARE WORKERS SPOKE OUT AND DEMANDED AN IMMEDIATE END TO NEWYORK-PRESBYTERIAN’S CUTS TO STAFFING
One of NYC’s Richest Healthcare Systems Announces Sweeping Layoffs While NYP Executives Rake in Millions
Amidst Looming Medicaid Cuts, Healthcare Workers Unite and Demand an Immediate Reinstatement of Laid-off Healthcare Professionals and an Investment in Safe Patient Care
New York, NY – Healthcare workers from New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 1199, and Communication Workers of America (CWA) who work throughout NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Health System are united and spoke out against NYP’s recent cuts to frontline healthcare staffing.
**Photo and video available upon request and available at www.facebook.com/nynurses**
In a video townhall on Monday, May 5, NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Health System announced a sweeping 2% staffing cut across the hospital system—over 1,000 healthcare workers. This announcement was made without first informing the affected healthcare professionals. Approximately 200 healthcare workers, including 65 NYSNA nurses and nurse practitioners and 121 1199SEIU caregivers, were served layoff notices across four different campuses—NYP-Columbia, NYP-Brooklyn Methodist, NYP-Hudson Valley, and NYP-Queens. The cuts will mean the loss of healthcare services, including for children and terminally ill patients.
At the NYP-Columbia campus in Washington Heights, these cuts include pediatric nurse practitioners, the consolidation of regional labs, the closure of an entire palliative care unit, and the closure of the pediatric infusion center, meaning that patients receiving lifesaving infusions will have to travel much farther for care. Mothers, babies, and terminally ill patients will be hardest hit by these cuts.
The hospital system cited looming macroeconomic changes as the reason for these cuts- none of which have actually occurred yet. However, recent financial statements show that NYP remains one of New York City’s wealthiest hospital systems and one of the country’s most financially stable. According to their first quarter 2025 financial report released after the cuts were announced, the health system earned a nearly $97 million surplus and brought in $2.7 billion in revenue. This is a 4% increase from the same time period last year. This is a speculative and preemptive cut for possible hard times ahead, all for one of the richest health industry leaders in New York.
While the announcement made reference to looming Medicaid cuts, their financials also show that their share of Medicaid patients remains fairly low. According to their own financial statement, as of 2024, NYP had one of the lower shares of revenue from Medicaid patients – approximately 14.5% of its revenue came from Medicaid. The system had an 11% profit margin in 2024 across its operations and ended the year with a total of $800 million in cash and cash equivalents.
Their decision to cut frontline staff was made as NYP executives raked in millions. Over 30 of NYP’s top-paid executives made more than $1 million a year in salary, benefits, and perks in 2023. CEO Steve Corwin alone made more than $14.6 million in salary, benefits, and perks in 2023.
Michealla Donohue, RN, said, “We are devastated. This feels like it came out of nowhere. Putting aside my own future well-being and financial security, I can say this will undoubtedly affect care in this region. Nurses’ primary concern is quality patient care, and less healthcare workers means less healthcare for patients. Period. We’re already fighting against disastrous cuts to Medicaid. There is no reason why an institution as wealthy as NYP should use these federal attacks on healthcare to further squeeze healthcare workers.”
NYSNA President Nancy Hagans, RN, BSN, CCRN, said: “The hospitals and units that are affected are already struggling to safely staff. NY-Presbyterian should be using its deep pockets to fund healthcare, not make more cuts to essential healthcare workers. We know Medicaid cuts will most dramatically impact children, and vulnerable patients, and these are the same patients that these cuts will affect. A hospital system that cared about the health and well-being of New Yorkers would be investing in safe patient care, not cutting nurses and other healthcare workers.”
“CWA is proud to stand with our union family in NYSNA and 1199SEIU to fight back against these layoffs,” said Dennis Trainor, CWA District 1 Vice President. “Healthcare workers are already stretched to their breaking point– they are constantly forced to do more with less while caring for patients under impossible conditions. We will not stay silent while one of the richest hospital systems in the country turns its back on the very workers who care for our communities.”
New York City Council Member Shaun Abreu, said, “We are extremely disappointed that our community is facing yet another round of healthcare staffing cuts. We hear it time and again from our neighbors—they need more access to care, not less. Communities like ours, which have historically lacked adequate healthcare access, cannot afford to lose more frontline workers. We stand with NYSNA in their demands and reject any cost-cutting measures that lead to our neighbors being laid off or that force already-overburdened staff to take on even more. We speak with healthcare workers regularly, and they’ve been clear—staffing shortages, long hours, and burnout are already pushing the system to its limits. To implement broad, sweeping cuts now is not just short-sighted—it’s cruel.”
NYSNA Director at Large Aretha Morgan, RN, MSN, said, “First, shame on the elected officials who have voted to put the healthcare of millions of Americans at risk. NYSNA members are fighting these federal healthcare cuts with everything we have. But what is just as disgusting is a health system as profitable as NY-Presbyterian taking advantage of this political climate and making cuts to the healthcare professionals that care for our sickest and most vulnerable patients.”
New York State Senator Robert Jackson, said, "NewYork-Presbyterian's decision to lay off frontline nurses—especially at the Children’s Hospital and palliative care unit—is deeply concerning and unjustifiable. Prioritizing executive salaries over patient care, particularly here in Washington Heights, undermines the safety and health of our communities. I stand firmly with NYSNA nurses in demanding transparency, accountability, and immediate reversal of these damaging cuts. Patients and nurses deserve better—care must always come before profit."
“It is outrageous that the wealthiest hospital system in New York City would choose to announce nurse layoffs, including those caring for children and the most vulnerable patients, through a video on the eve of Nurses Week,” said New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO President Vincent Alvarez. “At a time when safe staffing is already a crisis, slashing nurses and potentially other frontline caregivers while top NewYork-Presbyterian executives take home millions is indefensible. Working New Yorkers need a working healthcare system, and the NYC Labor Movement stands firmly with NYSNA, 1199SEIU and CWA members fighting to protect patient care, demand transparency and accountability, and ensure they can continue delivering the exceptional care our communities deserve.”
New York State Assembly Member Rev. Dr. Al Taylor, said, “As Assemblymember for the 71st Assembly District, I stand with NYSNA nurses and our union siblings from CWA and 1199SEIU in calling on New York-Presbyterian to stop these harmful cuts. Laying off frontline caregivers, especially those serving children and patients in palliative care, is unacceptable, especially in a moment when our communities are already stretched thin. This hospital system has the means to do better, and it should not be cutting care while executives take home millions. We need accountability, financial transparency, and a real plan to protect jobs and ensure safe staffing. Our neighborhoods deserve quality care, and the people who provide it deserve to be valued, not pushed aside.”
New York City Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, said, "We represent a district of high need and are home to one of the wealthiest hospitals in our backyard. Our hospitals are constantly facing threats of closures, layoffs, and understaffing, which impact our workforce. We expect our health institutions to act as good-faith partners, servicing the most vulnerable alongside us. New York-Presbyterian, however, is laying off almost 1,000 frontline workers who remain essential for patients who need care and for our communities, making the announcement during Nurses Week and under-communicating the crisis that calls for a sweeping 2% layoff. Nurses, staff, patients, and the communities our hospitals serve should not be kept in the dark."
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The New York State Nurses Association represents more than 42,000 members in New York State. We are New York’s largest union and professional association for registered nurses. NYSNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United, AFL-CIO, the country's largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses, with more than 225,000 members nationwide.