Ogdensburg hospital in danger of closing due to lack of state investment, North Country lawmakers call for investigation

OGDENSBURG – The future of Ogdensburg’s hospital is in jeopardy and the facility will not be able to make payroll next week, according to North Star Alliance CEO Richard Duvall.

Duvall issued a letter Dec. 3 to Gov. Kathy Hochul outlining the situation.

“On behalf of the 1,700 employees, the patients we serve, and the board of directors across the North Star Alliance, we write to express the critical nature of our daily operations. As the New York State Department of Health, the New York State Division of the Budget, and members of your team have heard over the past few months, we are on the precipice of closing programs, eliminating services, cutting jobs, and, quite possibly, facing imminent closure,” he said.

“In short, our facilities will not be able to make payroll next week,” he wrote.

Duvall said Hochul has acknowledged the importance of keeping the facilities open but has failed to act.

In recent years, North Star Alliance has worked to implement a plan to keep hospital doors open in Ogdensburg and at other locations.

“The plan has been coordinated with state and federal officials since August 2022. We received exciting news on Dec. 2, 2025, with the final federal regulatory notification that will allow us to complete the transformation. If executed properly, it will not only save but preserve healthcare in the North Country for years to come,” he wrote.

“Unfortunately, despite holding more than one hundred meetings, numerous conference calls, and sending hundreds—if not thousands—of emails, the Bureau of Financially Distressed Hospitals has not fully recognized the operational complexity and financial significance of transitioning from a single community hospital to two co-located hospitals: one critical access hospital and one inpatient psychiatric hospital,” the letter said.

Duvall said that while funding had been indicated as available, North Star Alliance has not received support at the required level.

North Star Health Alliance is now facing a fiscal cliff, and several North Country lawmakers are calling for a federal investigation. They allege the New York State Department of Health has failed to support—or worse, obstructed—the organization’s restructuring efforts.

“Despite achieving final milestones in collaboration with the DOH and federal regulatory agencies, financial support has stalled at a critical point. This transformational plan for the North Country is in jeopardy, clearly threatening safety-net hospitals, their employees, and the patients who trust us with their care,” Duvall said.

The funding and restructuring plan, developed with the hospitals’ boards of directors and leadership, is the first of its kind in the state, according to officials. It aims to preserve healthcare services, protect jobs, and transform hospital operations to better serve the community. But state and DOH officials say New York has delayed financial steps necessary to complete the transformation.

Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), New York State Senator Mark Walczyk (R-49), and Assemblyman Scott Gray (R-Watertown) are calling for state input.

“North Star Health Alliance has been a good-faith partner, bending over backwards to provide Governor Hochul with the information her Department of Health requested. This withdrawal by Hochul from the transition plan and abandonment of rural healthcare is disgusting,” Walczyk said.

Gray said the state’s failure to act will harm the North Country.

“NYSDOH’s failure to act and meaningfully engage in this approved restructuring is a profound disservice to the North Country. Governor Hochul must direct her administration to resolve this situation immediately, release the promised support, and work with these hospitals to preserve jobs and safeguard access to healthcare for the communities they serve. The prospect of families being forced to move their loved ones out of Meadowbrook’s long-term care over the holidays, expecting mothers having to find new services, or cancer patients being displaced mid-treatment is inexcusable and underscores the urgency of action now,” Gray said.

Assemblyman Ken Blankenbush also called for action on the matter.

“The crisis that first emerged at the Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center has now reached us in Carthage, and the consequences for our communities are becoming impossible to ignore. What is happening with Carthage Area Hospital is not an isolated administrative delay; it is part of a disturbing pattern in which Gov. Hochul’s Department of Health (DOH) withholds critical funding and stalls approved restructuring plans that our rural hospitals need to survive. If this funding remains stalled, the damage will spread quickly,’ he said.

“We cannot allow the governor to push our rural health care network to the brink. DOH should be part of the solution, not part of the problem.

“I stand firmly with Rep. Stefanik, Sen. Walczyk and Assemblyman Gray in demanding immediate action from Gov. Hochul and her administration. Release the funding, honor the commitments made to these hospitals and work with, not against, the North Country  preserve access to care.”

Stefanik, who is challenging Hochul for the governor’s seat, blamed the administration directly.

“Today I am calling on the New York State DOH to release its funding immediately, as promised, and halt what appear to be deliberate delay tactics that have placed our North Country hospitals on the brink of crisis.”