Albany, NY – Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon (AD-52) announced her Local Input in Community Healthcare (LICH) Act, A6004, passed the Assembly this week. This significant piece of legislation requires public notice and public engagement when a hospital or vital unit seeks to close and would strengthen the state's review of proposed closings. The bill had previously passed the Senate this legislative session.

Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon, Chair of the Assembly Mental Health Committee, said, “Too often, communities are the last to know when a hospital or maternity unit is about to close, leaving patients, families, and local leaders scrambling to respond. The LICH Act changes that by making transparency and community engagement a requirement, not just an afterthought.

With hospital closures threatening communities across the state, this legislation ensures that impacted communities finally get a seat at the table and decisions are not happening behind closed doors. I’m proud to have passed this bill in the Assembly and thank Senator Rivera, labor supporters, and the coalition of patient advocates who have fought tirelessly for this bill.”

"Our communities deserve to have a say when their local hospital, maternity unit, or emergency department might close. The complete lack of community engagement in the state's decision making about these closures is irresponsible when so many New Yorkers already face major health disparities in our broken healthcare system," said State Senator Gustavo Rivera, Chair of the Senate Health Committee. "My Local Input in Community Health (LICH) Act bill will address the gaps in the state’s current review of proposed hospital and critical unit closures and finally make our communities a key stakeholder in this process. I want to thank Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon for sponsoring this bill in the Assembly and it is my hope that the Governor can sign it into law."

"Congratulations to Assemblymember Simon and Senator Rivera for successful passage of the LICH Act this year," said Lois Uttley, co-convenor of the statewide Community Voices for Health System Accountability network. "This measure provides for more advanced public notice, meaningful engagement of affected communities and stronger, more transparent state oversight when hospitals plan to close. Since the closure of Beth Israel Medical Center, some Lower Manhattan residents have been struggling to get the care they need. We urge Governor Kathy Hochul to recognize that now is the moment for her to sign this bill!"

“When Mount Sinai Health System announced its intention to close Beth Israel Medical Center in Lower Manhattan, the local community had little to no power or ability to meaningfully engage with Mount Sinai or State officials on the matter. It was strictly a take-it-and-live-with-it proposition,” said Mark Hannay, coordinator of the Save Beth Israel and New York Eye and Ear Campaign and Director of Metro New York Health Care for All. “Despite numerous requests from local public officials as emissaries to both parties, they both refused to meet with local community leaders and members to discuss concerns and develop mutually agreed upon solutions, so we were summarily dismissed and ignored as important stakeholders. The Local Input for Community Healthcare Act will fix that dynamic by giving us a seat at the table from the get-go to require that government and industry treat us with the respect we deserve.”

“New York has lost over 50 hospitals, disproportionately in communities of color, without any community input since the 1990s when the State jettisoned its public health planning procedures,” said Elisabeth R. Benjamin, Vice President of Health Initiatives at the Community Service Society of New York. “New York State must restore the balance between hospitals and patients and ensure that the communities are told in advance of a would-be closure and that adequate steps are taken to ensure on-going access to care.

When SUNY Downstate closed Long Island College Hospital (LICH) in 2013, the health department didn’t notify or seek input from the communities that LICH had served for 156 years. This included low-income communities of color that had been designated as lacking health care services by the federal government. This trend has skyrocketed across New York State.

According to the Community Service Society of New York, from 1997 to 2024, 53 short-term acute care hospitals out of over 200 in New York State closed, including 20 in New York City alone, costing the state approximately 8,000 hospital beds or 16% of all hospital beds. When accounting for the downsizing and closures of specialized hospitals, the number of beds lost between 2000 and 2020 rises to 20,000. Several psychiatric beds that were closed early in the Covid-19 pandemic have not been restored.

This year, Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan closed its doors and there have been concerns about the attempts to close SUNY Downstate’s University Hospital in Brooklyn, services in the Capital District (childbirth in Troy, and in-patient services in Schenectady), and in the Catskill region in Sullivan County (transfer of key hospital services into another county altogether).

This proposed legislation will address gaps in the state's review of proposed hospital and maternity, emergency or mental health unit closures by ensuring adequate advance notice to the public, public disclosure of hospital closing plans, a community forum held well in advance of the closure date to allow public comment on the proposed closure plan, and preparation of a final closure plan that addresses concerns raised at the community forum.