The battle over the survival of Long Island College Hospital has become a numbers game.
The Cobble Hill hospital — which is part of SUNY Downstate Medical Center — is threatened with closing, with SUNY trustees likely to vote soon on pulling the plug.
LICH should be kept open because it’s nearly full every night, union reps argue.
But a state Controller’s audit says more than half the beds LICH is authorized to have are empty every night.
Management at East Flatbush-based Downstate recommended trustees should close LICH just two years after they purchased the money-losing Hicks St. hospital.
Both arguments have merit, according to a healthcare consultant who’s not involved in the showdown.
“The state is concerned because keeping a hospital facility open where half the space for beds is not being used for patients is costly — it’s not efficient,” said Denise Soffel of Health Management Associates.
“Their concern is absolutely legitimate,” she said. “This has shrunk to a small hospital.”
In 2010, an average 284 beds — a whopping 55% of the total — were unused each day, an audit by Controller Thomas DiNapoli found, citing figures from a state panel that analyzed financially strapped Brooklyn hospitals.
The figure refers to “certified beds” — the number of beds the state has authorized LICH to operate.
But over the past 15 years, LICH has been cutting down the number of beds it actually uses and has staff members to provide care for.
The number of staffed beds is about 260 — and on average 237 per day or more than 90% of them were in use last year, an internal document from SUNY Downstate managers indicates.
Brooklyn is short on hospitals for its burgeoning population and several are in shaky condition, so SUNY trustees should think twice before they vote, Soffel said.
“I would argue it would be a shame to close LICH because it’s one of the better-managed hospitals,” she explained.
Nurses union rep Joan Rowley, who has worked at LICH for 37 years, fears the community will suffer if her hospital shuts down.
“I’m angry and saddened,” she said.
“My question is why?” she said, arguing the hospital’s surgical unit, intensive care unit, emergency room and medical floors are constantly busy.
Asked which bed count is a fair way to judge embattled LICH, a spokesman for SUNY Chairman Carl McCall said, “The financial situation at Downstate is dire and well documented.”
Union officials huddled with LICH employees Thursday to plan a Friday rally to protest the possible closing.
“We’re going to fight this closing with everything we’ve got,” said Kevin Finnegan, political director of 1199 SEIU.
Worry mounted among staffers.
“I have my rent to pay; I have my daughter to take care of,” said psychiatric department nurse Sonia Allen.
“Hopefully they don’t do this,” said another psychiatric department nurse, Ken Brereton.
“The community depends on us.”
lcroghan@nydailynews.com
