{"id":677977,"date":"2026-03-24T09:05:35","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:05:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/677977\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:05:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T09:05:35","slug":"maimonides-merger-may-be-delayed-as-ags-office-says-court-approval-is-needed-brooklyn-paper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/677977\/","title":{"rendered":"Maimonides merger may be delayed as AG\u2019s office says court approval is needed \u2022 Brooklyn Paper"},"content":{"rendered":"

A regulatory snag may endanger the planned April 1 closing of the merger between Maimonides Medical Center and NYC Health+Hospitals.\n<\/p>\n

The state Attorney General\u2019s office has opted not to issue administrative approval of the sale, and said it must instead be reviewed by the Brooklyn Supreme Court. A deal can\u2019t be finalized before the court\u2019s decision is made, which may take months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Then-mayor Eric Adams announced<\/a> the merger late last year, and officials said bringing the financially-struggling Maimonides into the city\u2019s public health network would be a saving grace for the hospital.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since Maimonides is a nonprofit, the sale needs approval from the AG\u2019s Charities Bureau as well as the state\u2019s Department of Health.\u00a0
\n\"\"The sale required approval from the Attorney General\u2019s Charities Bureau. REUTERS\/Brendan McDermid\n<\/p>\n

At a City Council hearing<\/a> earlier this month, NYCH+H CEO Dr. Mitchell Katz said that while Maimonides had not yet finished all its paperwork \u2013 and despite a lawsuit filed by several members of Maimonides\u2019 Board of Trustees in an effort to stop the merger \u2014 the deal was expected to be finalized by April 1, as had been planned for months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, roughly two weeks before that deadline, the AG\u2019s office decided that the merger should be reviewed by the courts, not the Charities Bureau.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this matter, since there is a pending lawsuit about the transaction and significant community engagement, we concluded and advised that court review would be most appropriate,\u201d said a spokesperson for the AG\u2019s office.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Maimonides will have to submit a petition to Brooklyn Supreme Court, the spox said. From there, a judge will schedule and hold a hearing, then \u201cmake a determination as to whether the consideration and terms of the transaction are fair and reasonable, and that the purposes of the corporation will be promoted by the transaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"maimonidesMaimonides\u2019 current CEO, Ken Gibbs. File photo by Gabriele Holtermann<\/p>\n

It was not immediately clear just how long that would take, or what Maimonides and NYCH+H will do in the interim.\u00a0Maimonides\u2019 current CEO Ken Gibbs had been slated to step down as the merger took effect so NYCH+H leader Svetlana Lipyanskaya could take over the role.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a statement, NYCH+H spokesperson Christopher Miller said the agency is committed to finalizing the merger \u201cas quickly as possible in service of our patients, staff, and communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe continue to work with Maimonides towards that goal with intensity. If necessary regulatory and legal reviews extends our end date, that in no way decreases our belief in this partnership or pauses our ongoing work,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will drive on, fueled by respect for Maimonides\u2019 culture and heritage, as well as our shared mission of serving New York City without exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sam Miller, vice president of marketing and communications at Maimonides, echoed NYCH+H\u2019s commitment to meeting regulatory requirements \u201cas quickly as possible.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that the closing will proceed, giving us the financial support we need to maintain and expand access to our great care across Brooklyn,\u201d Miller said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Opponents of the merger celebrated the decision, agreeing that court oversight is needed.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Attorney General\u2019s office has now confirmed what we have been saying for months: this transaction cannot simply be rubber-stamped and must instead be reviewed by the courts,\u201d said lawyer Martin Bienstock, who is representing plaintiffs in two separate cases against the merger. \u201cThe transfer of a multi-billion-dollar hospital to the City of New York demands full judicial scrutiny.\u201d<\/p>\n

Officials say merger will provide financial lifeline<\/b><\/p>\n

Maimonides, a private safety-net hospital, treated nearly 100,000 people in 2024, according to its latest Community Services Plan, with 34,000 inpatient visits. Roughly 80% of the hospital\u2019s patients are insured by Medicaid or Medicare.<\/p>\n

The hospital has been struggling with cash flow for years, and in the first three quarters of 2025 lost $15 million while bringing in just $1.5 million in revenue. Katz, at the City Council hearing, said Maimonides had been seeking a partner to merge with for \u201cyears\u201d before approaching H+H.<\/p>\n

Joining the public hospital system would give Maimonides access to higher Medicaid reimbursement rates that would generate $9 million in revenue each month, Katz said. The merger is set to be supported by a $2.2 billion grant from the state, including funding for capital improvements.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBy joining our system, Maimonides will be able to offer New Yorkers expanded access to high-quality care, seamless digital access to health records through MyChart, and ongoing financial stability,\u201d Katz said at the hearing.<\/p>\n

\"mitchellNYC Health+Hospitals CEO Mitchell Katz at a City Council hearing earlier this month. Photo courtesy of Gerardo Romo\/NYC Council Media Unit<\/p>\n

But the merger has been met with skepticism from many in the community. Maimonides treats a large population of Orthodox Jewish patients, and some worry the merger would threaten the culturally-specific care it provides. Hatzalah groups in Borough Park, Crown Heights, Flatbush and Mill Basin have spoken out<\/a> against the sale, and Katz said opinions at public feedback sessions had been mixed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The first lawsuit, filed by seven members of the Board of Trustees last fall and amended earlier this year, claims the merger was \u201crushed\u201d and would reduce the quality of patient care and endanger the culturally-specific care it provides to the local Orthodox Jewish population. That suit also claimed that Maimonides\u2019 effort to get approval from the AG, rather than the Brooklyn Supreme Court, was \u201cunlawful.\u201d<\/p>\n

On March 9, a cohort of Brooklynites separately sued Maimonides, NYCH+H and the commissioner of the state\u2019s health department in an effort to stop the merger.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That second lawsuit claimed Maimonides and the DOH were attempting to skirt state law related to the sale of nonprofit hospitals, and asked that the court stop the merger from being finalized until it issued a decision on the suit. Both lawsuits are still pending in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.\n<\/p>\n

3\/23\/26, 6:09 p.m.: This story has been updated with comment from NYC Health+Hospitals and Maimonides Health.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A regulatory snag may endanger the planned April 1 closing of the merger between Maimonides Medical Center and…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":677978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,49772,7920,1121,130983,285539,281,7550,139301,210,3584,285540,379,24980,272515,7813,285541,6459,405,403,50,2295,5226,5225,5228,5227,285542,285543,285544,8662,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-677977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-attorney-general","tag-borough-park","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-supreme-court","tag-charities-bureau","tag-court","tag-finances","tag-financial-struggles","tag-health","tag-hospitals","tag-hospitals-in-crisis","tag-lawsuit","tag-letitia-james","tag-maimonides-medical-center","tag-merger","tag-mitchell-katz","tag-money","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-news","tag-newsletter","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-healthhospitals","tag-public-health-system","tag-safety-net-hospital","tag-sale","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677977","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}