Compound Fractures Shows Damage of Budget Cuts

HANYS’ new publication, Compound Fractures, explains why it is a public health imperative to address the state budget shortfall without targeting health care providers for cuts. Compound Fractures illustrates how recent state and federal budget cuts have harmed health care providers’ ability to provide patient care, and emphasizes that these cuts have disproportionately targeted health care providers.

In just the last 17 months, Governor Paterson and state lawmakers have enacted four distinct budget actions that, combined, have reduced funding to hospitals, nursing homes, and home health care providers by a staggering $3.87 billion, covering the period from January 2008 through December 2010. Exacerbating these cuts, recent federal budgetary actions have resulted in an additional $240 million in cuts to hospitals, nursing homes, and home care providers.

The impacts of these actions have begun to accrue in the form of thousands of lost jobs and the elimination of critical health services in communities throughout the state. Compound Fractures provides examples from HANYS’ recent survey of its membership to illustrate the real-world impacts of these cuts, and how any further cuts would harm patient care.

HANYS is sending Compound Fractures to state lawmakers and encourages members to use it in state budget advocacy. Contact: William Van Slyke