The Nassau Health Care Corporation, which oversees Nassau University Medical Center, announced the appointment on Dec. 5 of Megan Ryan as its new president and CEO, setting a collision course with the state Department of Health.
The appointment of Ryan, who had been serving as general counsel and interim president of Nassau University Medical Center, was made in a press release in which the corporation also named staff picks including a new chief medical officer and a chief nursing office.
Nassau Health Care Corporation Chairman Matthew Bruderman lauded Ryan’s performance at the financially troubled country hospital.
‘Nobody works harder than Meg and nobody cares more about the success of the hospital than she does,” Brunderman said in the release.
He said Ryan’s “commitment and capability have been repeatedly demonstrated by the enormous progress she’s made toward implementing the financial reform plan I announced last year and other improvements to facilities and services that have been realized under her watch.”
But the announcement drew an immediate rebuke from Dr. James McDonald, the state commissioner of health.
McDonald said in a letter to Bruderman on Dec. 5 that the appointment of Ryan and others “are deeply concerning and appear to contravene the conditions previously communicated by the Department as requirements for any state operating support in response to your application” for state funding under the Vital Access Assurance Program.
In March, McDonald responded to a letter from Bruderman and Ryan requesting a meeting and a restoration of state funding by calling for a search for a new president and CEO, a plan to cut deficits and other items.
NuHealth, a public benefit corporation running the center, presented a plan weeks after McDonald’s letter to appeal insurance denials, restrict overtime and raise the price of hospital services for the first time in over a decade.
McDonald characterized NuHealth’s plan as “insufficient.” He argued the hospital was lacking a detailed five-year plan to cut ongoing deficits. In addition, he accused the hospital of not being committed to a search for a new CEO.
McDonald said in response to Ryan’s appointment that the health department had made clear the health corporation “must conduct a professional, public comprehensive external search for its next CEO. To date, you have not provided the Department with any documentation that you have have met this requirement, and therefore we assume you have not. Advancing a contract that bypasses this process represents a significant violation” of the conditions imposed by the state.
He said the NHCC’s recent expenditures “further raises serious questions about the institution’s financial priorities and that the health department will “consider taking active if NHCC proceeds with formalizing this contract or engages in other noncompliant actions.”
“To avoid these consequences,” he went on to say, “the NHCC Board must immediately halt any action to establish new management contracts, including but not limited to a CEO appointment, and immediately submit to the Department updated information and plans that I previously requested in our correspondence from March 1, 2024 and April 17, 2024, and which remains outstanding.:
Bruderman announced in November that NHCC had filed a notice of claims against the State of New York last week, alleging the hospital was defrauded of millions of dollars.
“During the last 23 years, NUMC received approximately $1.08 billion from the federal government in [Disproportionate Share Hospital program] matching funds but did not receive the non-federal shares that the state was required to contribute,” the notice of claim said. “Those non-federal shares total approximately $1.06 billion today”
Bruderman also accused the state government, the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority, and Newsday of launching attack campaigns against himself and Interim CEO Ryan.
Richard Kessel, chairman of NIFA, a state agency that which oversees Nassau County’s finances, denied Brunderman’s claims.
“I think it’s frivolous and superfluous and I think they ought to spend their time cleaning up their own act and figuring out how they’re going to pay the $380 million they owe to [the state] rather than filing silly, frivolous lawsuits,” Kessel said.
Ryan argued in the press release announcing her appointment that the hospital is moving in the right direction, praising leadership as well as the 3,600 employees working at Nassau University Medical Center.
“While some want to mislead the public into thinking the hospital is failing, over the last nine months, we’ve made tremendous progress—from expanding patient services and inaugurating new facilities to dramatically improving our financial position, securing the Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval and increasing our ratings for the first time in six years,” her statement said.
NHCC is the parent company of NUMC, Nassau County’s only publicly funded hospital, they primarily serve Medicare and Medicaid patients and have a Level 1 Trauma Center and certified Burn Center.
The future of the hospital is in limbo due to the center’s decades-long financial problems and the inability of its management, the state, and Nassau County to agree on who will run it, as well as where the money is coming from to cover its expenses.
In his letter to Brunderman, McDonald repeated his earlier demand that the hospital present a five-year transformation plan from 2025-2029.
That plan must include how the hospital plans to improve operations and decrease operating losses, with monthly progress reports. In addition, it must include financial projections, key assumptions, and detailed descriptions of transformation initiatives.
McDonald also called for a multiyear plan, in conjunction with the five-year transformation, specifying timelines and actions to meet quality and safety goals.
He also requested the submission of NHCC’s corporate structure, the sum of the compensation for its highest-paid individuals for 2024 before any deductions are subtracted, and year-to-date consultant or lobbying costs.
In an interview with Schneps Media Long Island on Friday, Kessel confirmed that if Ryan has entered an employment contract, he has not seen it.
“I’m going to wait to see if they gave her a contract. I don’t want to prejudge it. I want to wait to see exactly what it says, and I will make some recommendations to the board if that contract comes to us,” Kessel said. .
While Kessel didn’t criticize Ryan, he agreed with McDonald that NuHealth had not conducted an acceptable search for a new president and CEO.
“We support the health commissioner of the state who asked for a national, open, transparent search,” Kessel said. “In this particular case, in our opinion, that wasn’t done”
NIFA officials, who are obligated to review all employment contracts entered by NHCC, expressed concerns with Ryan’s salary.
“NIFA will be diligent in reviewing Meg Ryan’s contract and determining whether or not it is fiscally responsible for NUMC to have offered a 5-year contract at $550,000 per year to someone who had previously served as the interim CEO,” Rory Lancman, vice chairman and director of NIFA, said in a statement to Schneps Media Long Island.