The bigwig tapped by Gov. Kathy Hochul to turn around the beleaguered Nassau University Medical Center resigned months after his high-profile appointment.
Hospital officials and Hochul’s office confirmed Monday that Stu Rabinowitz tendered his resignation, contending he brought stability to NUMC amid a leadership crisis and a projected $167 million deficit.
Tom Stokes, who was selected by the hospital’s board in December to serve as permanent CEO, will now be leading the hospital.
The bigwig tapped by Gov. Kathy Hochul to turn around the beleaguered Nassau University Medical Center resigned months after his high-profile appointment. Getty Images
“With Tom Stokes now in place as permanent CEO and the hospital operating on firmer footing, this is the right moment for me to step aside and allow the next phase of leadership to move forward,” Rabinowitz said in a statement. “This was a voluntary role, but one that required real time and focus — a fact my wife Nancy never let me forget. I’m looking forward to spending more time with her.”
Rabinowitz, who previously led Hofstra University, was appointed in May to helm NUMC’s board a day after 10 executives resigned from the hospital.
The disaffected execs did so in response to what they deemed a “hostile takeover” by Hochul, who had been given authority to handpick a majority of hospital board members.
Rabinowitz and three other new appointees went in to fill the power vacuum.
The new regime landed $110 million in state funding to stabilize the hospital’s finances and dropped litigation against the state started by their predecessors, officials said.
“Stu Rabinowitz stepped up when Nassau University Medical Center desperately needed steady, serious leadership,” Hochul said in a statement.
“His focus on accountability and fiscal management has helped put this critical safety-net hospital on the road to recovery, and I thank him for his dedicated service to the Long Island region.”
But Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman — who opposed the state takeover of NUMC and has previously accused the governor of participating in an alleged long-running scheme to defraud and close the hospital — said the resignation was predictable.
“It is no surprise that Stu Rabinowitz, a man of integrity, will not play games with people’s lives, as Kathy Hochul has done by defunding the hospital to gain control and then packing it with Democratic operatives and contributors,” Blakeman, the GOP-nominee for this year’s gubernatorial race, told The Post.