The ousted CEO of Nassau University Medical Center is gearing up to sue – claiming she was axed as part of Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “hostile takeover” of the Long Island hospital.
Meg Ryan, the former president of the Nassau Health Care Corporation, was given the boot by Hochul and her cronies in an “illicit scheme” to have NUMC foot the bill for Medicaid payments that the state was on the hook for, she claimed in a statement to The Post.
Ryan is alleging breach of contract and seeking damages after Hochul appointed her allies Richard Becker, Stuart Rabinowitz, Richard Kessel and others to oversee the hospital, according to a notice of claim her lawyers filed in state court Wednesday.
“They weaponized the Department of Health and the state budget process to take over our community hospital and then leaked misinformation to the press to damage me personally,” Ryan fumed. “It is unconscionable.
“I am eager to have my day in court and fight not only to clear my name but further expose the state’s corruption.”
Becker, Rabinowitz and Kessel and 10 unidentified members of the NHCC “acted deliberately and with malice” by denying her severance and salary payments starting June 1 after the state government had assumed control of the NUMC, Ryan’s attorney Alex Hartzband wrote in the claim.
The board of directors, which later resigned, is weighing a vote to terminate Ryan’s employment for “cause,” with Becker claiming she made “excessive termination payments” to herself and the other NHCC employees after announcing she would resign.
Her resignation letter was rejected by Becker, who promptly fired her in a late June letter that was reported by Newsday shortly after.
Ryan claims that Becker exceeded his authority in firing her.
“During my time as President and CEO of NHCC, we expanded services, improved quality of care, and reduced expenses. We demonstrated that, if not for the State’s malfeasance, the hospital was financially viable,” Ryan said.
“My top priority has always been giving people the best possible health care and protecting our dedicated employees.”
Attorneys for Ryan are prepared to argue in a forthcoming lawsuit that the payments were permissible and accrued from unused paid time off.
They also allege she’s being targeted for leading an earlier lawsuit against NHCC last December that sought to recoup more than $1 billion in Medicaid funding allegedly withheld from the public hospital the corporation oversees, NUMC, over two decades.
House Republicans last week launched an investigation into the purported “fiscal coverup” by Hochul done to boost a billion-dollar budget deficit that “has forced local governments to increase property taxes and cut local services.”
In May, Hochul had approved a budget bill with a provision that imposed state control of the NHCC’s board with Becker, Rabinowitz and Kessel and other state appointees.
Kessel had previously been appointed by Hochul to serve as director and chair of the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority.
Rabinowitz was previously appointed to the State Gaming Facility Location Board and once served as president of Hofstra University.
Becker served as deputy secretary for health and human services under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
NHCC has since let go of attorneys representing it in the Medicaid lawsuit against the state and filed for an adjournment.
Until Ryan and other executives uncovered it, NUMC, the only public hospital in the county with around 80% of its 275,000 patients uninsured, had been forced to pay the state’s percentage of Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) funding, the December lawsuit alleged.
“Ms. Ryan did absolutely nothing wrong,” Hartzband told The Post. “The payments she authorized were permissible under hospital policy and consistent with years of established practice by the CEOs who preceded her.”
He also accused the new NHCC leadership of fomenting a “shameless media campaign” to defame her.
“As we have repeatedly said, the Governor’s priorities at NUMC have always been patient care and ensuring the hospital’s long-term financial stability,” Hochul press secretary Gordon Tepper said in a statement.
“The newly restructured board has been empowered to take the steps necessary to protect these priorities and to safeguard the future of this essential community hospital.”
The Post reached out to NHCC for comment.
