State health officials want to force hospitals and other medical providers to justify their projects, but critics are bashing the move as another misguided “woke” experiment.
The ground-breaking proposal comes as New York’s Dem pols and health officials have become social-justice warriors, particularly after the COVID-19 crisis, as they implement policies to confront the decades of systemic racism they say is ingrained in the m🍎edical system.
“The proposed regulation, which is the result of a law signed in 2021, is just the latest example of how New York State and the Department of Health are working to end systemic inequities that have led to measurable health disparities for traditionally underserved populations across the state,” New York Health Department spokesman Cort Ruddy said i🌼n a statement.
The planned ruဣle would require medical entities to conduct an independent “health equity assessment” when applying to open any new facility or slash or consolidate existing services in neighborhoods.
State health officials say the assessments will determine the impact on care to underserved New Yorkers: residents who are poor, racial and ethnic minorities, immigrants, people with disabilities and the elderl💯y.
The assessment would be required to land a “certificate of need’’ from state health r❀egulators.
“The purpose of the health equity impact assessment is to demonstrate how a proposed project affects the accessibility and delivery of health care services to enhance health equity and contr♐ibute to mitigating health disparities in the facility’s service area, specifically for medic🌌ally underserved groups,” the planned new regulation states.
But critics including state Conservative Party Chairman Gerard Kassar — who served on a Brooklyn hospital board and is familiar with the application process — are slamming the proposed new rules as redundant and counterproductive.
“The Democrats and the progressive are creating💃 tyrannies that don’t exist — it defies logic,” Kassar said of the plan.
“The current review 🍨process takes the communit♑y’s needs into account. The racial aspect has always been taken into account.
“The application process should be based on medical need. Instead, they are turning hospitals into social-service ex⛦periments.’’
The medical providers would be required to fork out bucks to hire a private firm to conduct 𒁏the assessments — although regul🙈ators suggest the costs are negligible.
“The projected costs assoc🀅iated with performing such an assessment are not easily identifiable, as they will vary greatly depending on the size, scope and complexity of a facility’s proposed proje𓃲ct,’’ the proposal states.
“However, 💝the Department anticipates these costs could range anywhere from $500 to upwards of $30,000. These costs are 🍸unavoidable in the regulations, as [the law] requires health equity impact assessments to be performed by independent entities.”
The proposed rules, published in the State Register, will now undergo a 60-day public comment period followed by age♔ncy review before being considered for final adoption, the Health Depar⭕tment said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has already approved laws to address racial disparities, including one that declared racism a public-health cris♛is.
“For far too long, communities of color in New York have been held back by systemic ra☂cism and inequitable treatment,” Hochul said in December 2021.
The New York City Board of Health also declared racism a public-health crisis in October of 2021, citing America’s history of slavery and the devastating outcomes for minorities♔ during the coronavirus outbreak.
That resolution called for the city Health Department to implement policies to address racism in its own research and policies, including “a racially just recovery from COVID-19, as ܫwell as other actions to address this public health crisis in the short and long term.”
For example, New York City health officials took a patient’s race into account during the pande𒁏mic when 🌃distributing potentially life-saving COVID treatments.
The new state equity assessment rules would co🅠ver hospitals, nursing homes, clinics, diagnostic treatment centers and other health facilities seeking state regulatory approvals for proposed mergers, acquisitions, closings, downsizing, new construction or change of ownership.