Another item of note from the New York Times
No Clues Yet as Health Industry Awaits Report on Downsizing
November 27, 2006
Richard Perez-Pena
An economic shock wave, years in the making, is expected to hit New York this week. It could alter or eliminate tens of thousands of jobs, and change the way millions of people receive health care.
Yet the moment will catch most New Yorkers by surprise, and even those who know of it and care deeply have little real idea what to expect.
On Tuesday, a commission created by state lawmakers will release a plan for downsizing the hospital and nursing home industries across the state. Under the law that created the panel, the recommendations will become law unless the governor or the Legislature acts in December to reject the entire plan — it cannot approve some pieces and not others.
It goes on
Officials hope that downsizing will shore up the surviving hospitals by leaving them with more patients and putting them in a stronger position to bargain with health insurance companies. They predict that economically sound hospitals will invest more in computer systems — an area where New York lags behind much of the country — and other innovations that will make them more efficient.
David Sandman, the commission’s executive director, said he was sympathetic, but he disagreed. Last week, a published report speculated as to which hospitals might be closed, prompting panicked responses from their executives and employees.
technorati tags:hospitals, healthcare, downsizing, closing, layoffs, restructuring, primarycare, medicine, newyork
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