The day before the state assumed management of Nassau University Medical Center, its senior leaders charged a nearly $1,500 meal at a Manhattan steakhouse to the financially troubled hospital, according to a recent investigation.
A visit on May 29 at The Lobster Club in Midtown occurred just hours before Gov. Kathy Hochul was scheduled to name new management for the financially troubled hospital, which has more than $1 billion in debt, as per reimbursement records obtained by Newsday.
Seven executives, including former CEO Meg Ryan, were present at the dinner, which the Nassau County Interim Finance Authority — the organization tasked with monitoring and managing the county’s expenditures — described as “an absolute outrage.”
“On their final day, they visited the city and had a lobster dinner along with other activities, using hospital funds,” said Richard Kessel, chairman of NIFA, who was appointed by Hochul in 2023, to Newsday.
This is a hospital facing significant financial difficulties — it has very little cash — and these individuals were supposedly working for the benefit of the hospital and the taxpayers?
The executives visited the restaurant following their attendance at the Greater New York Hospital Association Annual Meeting, with receipts indicating the group’s meal featured a $175 lobster, a $68 Wagyu skirt steak, and large portions of sushi at the upscale Midtown establishment.
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According to NUMC’s expense guidelines, staff members must adhere to spending caps of $20 for breakfast, $30 for lunch, and $50 for dinner, and they should seek government rates for travel—unless prior approval from the CEO or CFO is obtained.
Several costs presented by the previous administration seem to go beyond the set boundaries, as indicated by the hospital’s financial documents.
Before the state takeover, Ryan and her executive team spent thousands on travel to Albany, Washington, DC, and Chicago, according to the records.
This encompasses a nearly $3,000, three-night stay at the Willard InterContinental in Washington, D.C., a $1,000 hotel expense in Albany, and almost $8,000 for three round-trip flights to a Chicago healthcare conference.
Tom Basile, a representative from Ryan, informed The Post that the former CEO only stopped by the dinner for a short time, did not consume any food, and was not the individual who arranged the event or filed the reimbursement.
He also said that RyanOften received reimbursement for meetings with government officials and events where she was primarily invited to speak — even covering the cost of round-trip tickets for herself and another administrator for a trip that was ultimately canceled at the last minute.
“Any claim that she engaged in improper actions or received inappropriate reimbursement is merely an attempt to shift focus from the State’s Medicaid corruption, currently being probed by Congress, the millions in illegal no-bid contracts approved by Hochul’s recent appointees, and NHCC’s breach of Ms. Ryan’s employment contract,” Basile stated.
Basile mentioned that most of Ryan’s costs during her time were “aimed at lobbying for more resources” and “supporting the recovery of the $1 billion in funds that were wrongfully taken by the state government as part of its continuous Medicaid plan.”
He noted that although the state and the new hospital administration are complaining about Ryan’s prior expenses and a salary of $550,000 — the new CEO, Richard Becker, earns more than $760,000 annually, as verified by NIFA records.
“Unlike earlier CEOs, who accumulated hundreds of thousands in improper expenses, Ms. Ryan, during her brief time in charge, personally spent thousands of dollars on initiatives that weren’t reimbursed, such as meals for staff, travel, and materials for community events,” Basile stated.
Ryan was officially terminated”For cause,” the day following the dinner, with officials stating that Ryan improperly approved $3.5 million in termination payments to herself and a dozen other executives prior to her departure — a statement Ryan refutes.
She has subsequently initiated a legal action against the hospital, contesting the dismissal and refuting the claims made.
The expenditure is currently being examined as part of an ongoing audit initiated by the hospital’s new management.
