Public Employee Press

DC 37-led meetings on policy
Union leaders meet with HHC on health care policy

In a joint effort to keep New York City's health-care system afloat, union leaders met with senior officials of the Health and Hospitals Corp. throughout the summer to strategize about the fiscal challenges and new policies at public hospitals.

Bolstered by NBC chat king Jimmy Fallon's praise for the doctors and staff at Bellevue Hospital after a 10-day stay and emergency surgery in July that saved the star's ring finger, HHC's top managers and union leaders rolled up their sleeves to field ideas on how to improve HHC.

"It's important that we recognize our union's history with HHC," said Associate Director Oliver Gray. "HHC was designated to handle Ebola, Bellevue cared for Mr. Fallon when Beth Israel could not, and we have both survived Hurricane Sandy that damaged our buildings."

"It is clear that in crises, HHC is counted on for quality medical care. Credit is due to our members, who are hard-working, dedicated HHC employees," Municipal Hospital Employees Union Local 420 President Carmen Charles said.

Leaders on both sides of the table acknowledged that HHC, the nation's largest public health-care system, is in a fiscal chokehold. HHC faces a budget gap of more than $700 million in 2017. HHC managers are scrambling to find additional revenue sources to fund care, capital projects and help meet payroll. HHC's survival, they said, will depend on cooperation between labor unions, the employees, and management.

DC 37 invited HHC officials and leaders of the Municipal Labor Committee, the New York State Nurses Association, the Doctors Council, and trades unions to meetings at its headquarters and at HHC's Worth Street building.

DC 37 leaders said that while they will continue to push for more government funding, they are also monitoring staffing levels, discipline and scheduling, privatization, workplace violence, and how management chooses to address these concerns.

The unions launched a "Safe Staffing Levels" campaign and distributed buttons to union members at HHC.

DC 37 advocates holding HHC to its core mission: to provide quality care regardless of one's ability to pay. But new policies threaten the very funding sources HHC once counted on for reimbursement.

As the Affordable Care Act protocols begin, HHC stands to lose nearly $1 billion in federal, state and city aid. HHC may lose $825 million in Disproportionate Share Hospital funds and Medicaid. Gov. Andrew Cuomo shortchanged health-care funding to counties in and around New York City by $400 million, and HHC owes the City of New York $750 million for malpractice payments.

— Diane S. Williams