Brooklyn's Interfaith Medical Center to Declare Bankruptcy?

Photo: MK Metz

Hospital officials said today that Interfaith Medical Center is planning to declare bankruptcy as soon as this week, according to the New York Times.

Interfaith, serving Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, serves over 250,000 patients a year, mostly Caribbean-Americans and African- Americans.

The Medicaid cutbacks of 2010 played a role, the hospital said.

About a year ago, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, DOH’s Medicaid Redesign Team/ Brooklyn Work Group found that Wyckoff, Interfaith and four other hospitals “do not have a business model and sufficient margins to remain viable and provide high quality care to their communities as currently structured.”

The hospital hopes for millions in financing from the state, but officials told the Times that no money would be forthcoming unless Interfaith agreed to merge with Brooklyn Hospital -- something Interfaith officials say would be the end of the hospital.

In April, several groups -- including Occupy Wall Street's Healthcare for the 99%, the Granny Peace Brigade and Act Up -- marched over the Brooklyn Bridge for a rally about the Brooklyn hospital crisis.

OWS asked: Why did Gov. Cuomo appointed Stephen Berger, a Wall Street millionaire financier, to be in charge of restructuring health care in Brooklyn?


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