UUP Press Releases

CONTACT: Denyce Duncan Lacy or Don Feldstein at (518) 640-6600
Lacy’s cell number is (518) 265-3114

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 1, 2006

UUP: Privatizing would devastate SUNY-operated hospitals

Warning that New York state cannot abandon its obligation to provide health care for the disadvantaged and uninsured, the president of the union representing SUNY faculty today urged state lawmakers to reject the recommendations contained in the Berger Commission report which would potentially force the three State University hospitals and their affiliated medical schools to close.

 “These hospitals provide a lifeline for their communities, offering services many may not otherwise have access to,” said William E. Scheuerman, President of United University Professions. Testifying before the state Senate Health Committee in Albany, Scheuerman took issue with the report’s call for a study on privatizing the three public teaching hospitals.

“If privatized, it is likely that many of the more expensive and unique of these critical services provided would be cut back, or, more likely, completely abolished,” he said.

Scheuerman said privatization would affect SUNY’s teaching hospitals in Brooklyn, Syracuse and Stony Brook beyond the level of clinical care provided, warning that it would endanger accessible, affordable public medical education in New York state.
    
“If the responsibility of medical education at our teaching hospitals shifts to corporations, access would suffer as concern about a healthy bottom line, rather than healthy citizens, becomes the main priority,” Scheuerman told the committee. “The potential exists that these institutions, highly dependent on the state, would be forced to close their doors.”

Scheuerman said lawmakers must reject the commission’s recommendations and follow up with a rational, open discussion of the health care needs of all New Yorkers.

Scheuerman also said the recommendation for a potential merger between Crouse and Upstate Medical in Syracuse has not been fully analyzed. “The health care, financial and legal issues associated with such a merger have not been fully defined or resolved, and the consequences of a judgment so important to that community can be severe. If implemented, it cannot be corrected in the future.”

Additionally, he said the commission’s report failed to address a decline in financial support from affiliated hospitals for Buffalo HSC’s teaching mission.

UUP represents more then 34,000 academic and professional faculty on 29 New York state-operated campuses, and is an affiliate of New York State United Teachers and the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO.     

-30-