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Sen. Schumer Pushes for Federal Relief for Two Syracuse Hospitals Facing Millions in Red Ink

Scott Willis
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WAER News

Senator Chuck Schumer has hit the road again, and Monday, made Syracuse his first stop since the COVID-19 pandemic began. 

"Thank you everybody.  We're going to keep our social distancing and be quick because we're indoors," he said as he sanitized the podium with a wipe.

He’s concerned about two area hospitals largely left out of federal recovery funding in previous relief bills…St. Joseph’s and Crouse.  Schumer says the administration is only funding hospitals designated as a hotspot, safety net, or rural to qualify, even if others experienced the same revenue loss due to COVID-19.  He says $75 billion of a $175 billion pot remains unspent.

Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
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WAER News
Sen. Schumer's visit to Crouse's Marley Education Center marked his first trip since the pandemic began.

"We have a real good chance of changing this formula so hospitals like Crouse, like St. Joe's, can get the money they need.  There are other hospitals like this, but it particularly affected Central New York.   It really matters in terms of the health care and in terms of the ongoing vitality of these two institutions."

Schumer says they’re two of the region’s five largest employers, so layoffs hurt the community and economy.  St. Joe's anticipates $40 million in losses.  President and CEO Leslie Paul Luke says they took a big hit when they had to cancel non-emergency surgeries.

"The intention was to ensure that all hospitals had adequate capacity to take care of COVID patients.   New York City, for instance, that was very appropriate.  But here in Central New York, we had more than adequate personnel and PPE to take care of  all the COVID patients and do elective surgeries.  We could have avoided such a major financial loss."

He says additional federal relief means they could call back furloughed workers sooner, and fill open positions.  Meanwhile, Crouse hospital still has 180 employees on furlough after expecting to be $20 million in the red. President and CEO Kimberly Boynton says people still aren’t returning to the emergency department at the same pre-COVID levels.

Credit Scott Willis / WAER News
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WAER News
St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center Leslie Paul Luke takes questions from the media.

"For Crouse, a typical day would have been 170 or 175.  These days, we're only reaching about 120.  So you can see there's still variance in emergency department traffic, which drives the rest of our volumes.  We have 50 percent of our admissions come through the emergency department.  That's continuing to have an effect."

Boynton says they’re steadily increasing their surgical volumes, which will help boost income.  At the same time, she says they’re spending more to keep the hospital safe and clean.  Senator Schumer says he hopes the funding can be made available within the next month. 

Scott Willis covers politics, local government, transportation, and arts and culture for WAER. He came to Syracuse from Detroit in 2001, where he began his career in radio as an intern and freelance reporter. Scott is honored and privileged to bring the day’s news and in-depth feature reporting to WAER’s dedicated and generous listeners. You can find him on twitter @swillisWAER and email him at srwillis@syr.edu.