Citing debt and unmanageable malpractice costs, Long Island College Hospital is closing its maternity ward and selling two more buildings, according to an article in the Times. LICH is putting 97 Amity Street (right) and a former medical school across the street, the Pholemus building (left), on the market. Some doctors have complained that LICH’s practice of selling its real estate holdings is a precursor to the hospital shutting down. Recent LICH sales include the Lamm Building at 110 Amity Street and Carroll Gardens’ International Longshoremen’s building at 340 Court Street, both of which are being redeveloped into condos (340 Court is now demolished). Stanley Brezenoff, president of Continuum Health Partners, LICH’s parent company, said the hospital’s obstetrics practice, which delivered 2,800 babies last year, is its biggest money loser. Another hospital official said the buildings could be turned into condos. “It would be like buying a condo in the hospital,” one doctor said, noting how many medical buildings surround the two properties that are for sale. “Maybe sick people would like to buy these condominiums.”
Community Hospital in Brooklyn Is Closing Maternity Ward [NY Times]
LICH To Sell Buildings, Cut Bed Capacity, Close Obstetrics [Brooklyn Eagle]
Cash-Strapped LICH Delivers Bad News [NY Daily News]