Governor Hochul, State and Local Officials, and Community Leaders Celebrate Historic $1 Billion Investment Into SUNY Downstate Hospital

Proposed Plan Recommends Investment in Significant Infrastructure Improvements and Overall Modernization of SUNY Downstate’s Hospital

Plan Aims to Modernize the Hospital and Preserve All Inpatient and Outpatient Services in Central Brooklyn

 

Governor Kathy Hochul was joined by local officials, SUNY Downstate leadership, community leaders and labor and hospital groups to celebrate the historic $1 billion investment in SUNY Downstate’s hospital. Listening to the community’s input , the SUNY Downstate Advisory Board developed a plan to make infrastructure improvements and renovations that will modernize hospital care for this community.

“Every New Yorker deserves access to innovative, high-quality care,” Governor Hochul said. “This historic $1 billion investment into SUNY Downstate’s hospital will contribute to modernization and infrastructure efforts that will lead to a brighter future for this community.”

Governor Hochul worked with the Legislature to provide a historic capital investment in SUNY Downstate. The Governor championed $750 million in capital funding for SUNY Downstate’s hospital in the 2024-25 and 2025-26 Enacted State Budgets. The Governor directed SUNY to dedicate its anticipated $50 million annual capital allocations in each of the next seven years to bring the total investment to more than $1 billion.

This plan to make improvements to SUNY Downstate Hospital was developed by The SUNY Downstate Community Advisory Board, consisting of health care and community leaders who worked throughout the past nearly six months to gather input and ideas directly from the community to inform the proposal.

The Advisory Board’s report recommends:

• Retaining all current inpatient and outpatient services, including maternity and kidney transplant services
• Converting all double occupancy rooms to private rooms with showers and add additional rooms, resulting in 225 operational beds (with the goal of increasing the current 165 average daily census)
• Modernizing and expanding the emergency department to 45 stations
• Establishing and renovating dedicated inpatient specialty units for cardiology, oncology, and orthopedics
• Building a new hospital annex, including a state-of-the-art ambulatory surgery center that expands services in oncology and cardiology
• Addressing the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure issues that have resulted in repeated system failures
• Improving leadership and operations to work towards operational sustainability

After gathering public and stakeholder input over many months, the approach recommended by the advisory board was presented to the public as an option under consideration at the fourth public hearing on April 28. Materials from the public hearings are available here.

Last year, SUNY Downstate’s hospital faced a $100 million annual deficit and was at risk of being unable to operate without additional funding, while contending with a hospital facility in disrepair and vulnerable to major crises, including recent major infrastructure incidents.