{"id":828214,"date":"2026-08-28T02:52:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T02:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/828214\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T02:52:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T02:52:09","slug":"nycs-contentious-takeover-of-ailing-maimonides-hospital-approved-by-state-despite-stiff-opposition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/828214\/","title":{"rendered":"NYC’s contentious takeover of ailing Maimonides Hospital approved by state despite stiff opposition"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York City\u2019s contentious takeover<\/a> of financially ailing Maimonides Medical Center was approved by state regulators Thursday \u2014 despite stiff opposition from the Orthodox Jewish community and other nearby Brooklyn residents.<\/p>\n

As part of the merger agreement, the city\u2019s public hospital system \u2014 Health + Hospitals \u2014 agreed to maintain kosher meals and other religious customs for the Borough Park facility with historical ties to the Jewish community.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not here to change Maimonides. We\u2019re here to support Maimonides,\u201d said Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and CEO of Health + Hospitals, during a hearing in Albany.<\/p>\n

The takeover follows a hearing that drew stiff opposition from Orthodox Jews and other nearby Brooklyn residents. Gabriella Bass<\/p>\n

The merger was initiated under then-Mayor Eric Adams and supported by his successor, Zohran Mamdani, while Gov. Kathy Hochul put up a staggering $2.2 billion to subsidize Maimonides\u2019 deficits over five years to meet payroll and keep the lights on.<\/p>\n

A number of rabbis and other members of the local religious community objected to the city taking over Maimonides \u2014 the largest privately-run medical facility in Brooklyn that has delivered babies and provided medical care to generations of Borough Park families.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts a desperate move. A city takeover of Maimonides will cause more problems than it solves,\u201d said Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein (D-Brooklyn).<\/p>\n

Maimonides serves large immigrant Chinese, Latino and minority communities in the surrounding neighborhoods of Bensonhurst and Sunset Park as well as a big Jewish population in Borough Park.<\/p>\n

A high percentage of its patients are poor and on Medicaid, the public health insurance program for the needy that pays hospitals lower reimbursement rates than private or commercial insurers.<\/p>\n

State regulators approved New York City\u2019s takeover of financially ailing Maimonides Hospital. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Katz \u2014 during testimony before the state Public Health and Health Planning Committee \u2014 said Maimonides will be able to collect higher Medicaid reimbursement rates as a public hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It will also have the resources to upgrade its antiquated computer system, a costly endeavor, he said.<\/p>\n

Katz said Health + Hospitals was \u201cgoing to maintain\u201d a kosher kitchen at Maimonides and end-of-life care per Jewish tradition.<\/p>\n

Members of the health committee unanimously approved the merger following the hearing, with one member saying it was the only serious proposal put forward to save the 711-bed hospital.<\/p>\n

One health care industry insider said other private hospital systems looked at potentially merging with Maimonides, but walked away when they saw the steep operating deficits<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not here to change Maimonides. We\u2019re here to support Maimonides,\u201d said Dr. Mitchell Katz, president and CEO of Health + Hospitals, during a hearing in Albany. Paul Martinka<\/p>\n

\u201cWho wants to take over red ink?,\u201d the source said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a bankrupt hospital the state has been subsidizing. The state is giving the city the opportunity to subsidize it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Two lawsuits are<\/a> pending that seek to block the merger.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur fight to preserve and protect Maimonides Hospital for the Brooklyn community continues. Our lawsuit remains active and Maimonides still needs additional court approval to move forward,\u201d said Martin Bienstock, the lawyer representing the Coalition to Preserve Maimonides.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout question, this illegal deal would undermine the health of the community we all love,\u201d he said. \u201cWe look forward to vigorously pursuing this fight on all fronts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katz, the head of Health + Hospitals, is a well regarded administrator who former Mayor Bill de Blasio tapped to lead the city\u2019s medical response<\/a> to the deadly COVID-19 outbreak.<\/p>\n

But Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, director of state government relations for Agudath Israel, said city hospital officials are making promises now that could be broken later on.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdministrations come and go but the sale [of Maimonides] is forever,\u201d Silber said.<\/p>\n

Maimonides is an 81-year-old private, not-for-profit hospital with deep Jewish roots \u2014 named after 12th-century Rabbi Moshe Ben Maimon, an advocate for medical training.<\/p>\n

Health + Hospitals currently runs 11 hospitals, 29 medical clinics and five long-term care facilities across the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

Representatives from the Health Care Association of New York State, the Greater New York Hospital Association, and Maimonides staffers with the Nurses\u2019 Association and Local 1199 SEIU Health Care East testified in support of the merger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City\u2019s contentious takeover of financially ailing Maimonides Medical Center was approved by state regulators Thursday \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":828215,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[141088,7567,10767,97,252,253,9447,5871,249968,194,10766],"class_list":["post-828214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-bill-de-blasio","tag-brooklyn","tag-eric-adams","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-hospitals","tag-metro","tag-nyc-health-and-hospitals","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=828214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/828214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/828215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=828214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=828214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=828214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}