The CEOs of five major New York City hospitals came to the aid of Governor Andrew Cuomo, issuing a statement in support of a controversial directive for nursing homes to accept patients with COVID-19 – after their industry pushed for it.
An elderly care source said on Friday that nursing homes were not consulted before the March 25 mandate was issued and “obviously came from hospitals”
“Who else would invent this, other than hospitals?” said the source.
Jim Clyne, president of Leading Age New York – which represents nursing homes and other residential facilities for the elderly – also said, “Nobody spoke to me” before the state Department of Health issued the directive.
In a statement of more than 800 words, the hospital’s CEOs said the rescinded order was a “prudent and safe option” to free up beds in their facilities during the first wave of the pandemic.
“It is a daily practice of hospitals to discharge stable and medically recovered patients to nursing homes, as long as the nursing home can safely care for the patient,” said the statement.
“This is true even for infectious patients who are clinically stable, if proper precautions are taken.”
Executives who signed the statement include Mount Sinai Health System CEO Kenneth Davis, who The Post revealed was isolated in a beachfront mansion near Palm Beach, Florida, at the time the mandate was issued – and while Desperate nurses at Mount Sinai West were wearing garbage bags to protect themselves from infections.
Also signed by Northwell Health CEO Michael Dowling – a former state employee and longtime adviser to Cuomo – as well as NewYork-Presbyterian CEO Steven Corwin, NYU Langone Health CEO Robert Grossman and Montefiore Medicine CEO Philip Ozuah.
The CEOs’ retroactive prescription for the directive – which critics blame for spreading infections among highly vulnerable elderly people – was made in a press release late Wednesday afternoon, prior to interrogation by Health Commissioner Howard Zucker in a legislative hearing on the budget.
It also appears to have been part of a two-pronged public relations blitz that involved a 1,700-word statement or a conference call with reporters by Cuomo’s adviser Steven Cohen, who repeated many of the governor’s talking points.
But the efforts did not inoculate Zucker against repeated attacks by outraged lawmakers, including state senator Tom O’Mara (R-Elmira), who demanded to know who ordered the total number of deaths in nursing homes in COVID-19 to be kept public. .
Zucker declined to answer that question, citing an “ongoing investigation” by federal authorities that would have been triggered by the Post’s disclosure about the cover-up.
Congressman Ron Kim (D-Queens) – who called for Cuomo’s impeachment over the cover-up and demanded that he and the state’s Democratic Committee return $ 10 million in hospital industry donations – accused the governor of “hiding behind his supporters “.
“The governor cannot deceive the public with this,” said Kim.
“That’s why we need an independent commission with subpoena power to investigate the decisions that the Cuomo government made in nursing homes.”
Congressman Tom Abinanti (D-Tarrytown) also said: “Clearly, the Cuomo government is trying to justify a bad decision after the fact, after being criticized.”
“The mere introduction of COVID patients violates the basic medical practice of keeping people safe,” said Abinanti, a member of the Assembly’s Health Committee.
“There was no medical science to show that it wouldn’t hurt and, after the fact, they are struggling to justify a decision.”
Cuomo has not appeared in public since the widespread, bipartisan outrage that erupted on Wednesday over new accusations of sexual harassment by former aide Lindsey Boylan, now a Democratic candidate for Manhattan district president.
The Greater New York Hospital Association – which represents more than 160 hospitals and healthcare systems, including those whose CEOs issued Wednesday’s statement – said: “As has been widely reported, GNYHA sought state assistance for the appropriate discharge of COVID-19 patients who no longer require hospital care. “
“This was requested in the context of the State’s guideline that hospitals immediately and significantly increase the capacity of beds to make room for an expected increase in patients with COVID-19 in critical condition,” added GNYHA.
Northwell Health declined to comment, but neither Cuomo’s office nor Mount Sinai, New York-Presbyterian, NYU Langone or Montefiore immediately returned requests for comment.
The Health Department said: “There are policies and facts. This letter clearly describes the science-based conclusions of leadership from some of the best health institutions in the world that did everything they could to help lead this state during the darkest days of this pandemic. “