Doctors who work at Long Island College Hospital held a rally yesterday to blast LICH parent company Continuum Health Partners’ practice of selling off some of the hospital’s real estate holdings, according to articles in the Times and Daily News. Some LICH staff believe the hospital will eventually be shuttered, and that Continuum is using proceeds from the sale of LICH holdings to fund operations at tonier hospitals in Manhattan, especially Beth Israel Medical Center. In the past year, Continuum sold off $33.4 million worth of LICH properties to developers, including Cobble Hill’s Lamm Building at 110 Amity Street (above left) and Carroll Gardens’ International Longshoremen’s building at 340 Court Street (above right, pre-demolition). Continuum’s president, Stanley Brezenoff, told the Times that all the money gained from the sale of LICH’s real estate holdings goes back to aiding the financially troubled institution. Every dime out of those transactions goes back into L.I.C.H., says Brezenoff. They have a deficit. They have major cash flow problems. We do the liquidation of assets in order to give them money to operate.
Doctors Say Hospital Is Falling Victim to Its Own Real Estate Value [NY Times]
Doctors Fear Brooklyn Hospital to Shut [NY Daily News]