Advocates Give Up On Troubled Long Island College Hospital As A Full-Service Facility
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Community advocates who wanted financially strapped Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn to remain full-service have given up their fight.
An agreement Thursday ended lawsuits over the fate of the hospital.
A group of real estate and health companies negotiating to buy the Cobble Hill facility said it will use a needs assessment to determine the services it provides.
They're offering the state university system $260 million for the 6.2-acre campus.
They've proposed keeping an emergency department and outpatient care, including cancer treatment and dental, pediatric and geriatric services.
Under Thursday's agreement, SUNY will outsource walk-in emergency services to a provider within the bidding group starting next Tuesday.
LICH had been set to close down Thursday morning, but SUNY said Wednesday the hospital would continue to provide walk-in emergency services -- in an effort of good faith -- while a deal is finalized.
The hospital stopped accepting 911 ambulances to its emergency room last week as the first phase of the shutdown.
LICH was scheduled to fully close after a deal between SUNY and the initial top bidder, Brooklyn Health Partners, fell apart earlier this month.
The agreement says ambulances might not return to the hospital until mid-July.
State officials say the hospital has been losing an "unsustainable" $13 million a month.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
(TM and © Copyright 2014 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2014 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
