Following reports about the influx of thousands of migrants to New York City in the last year alone, the city's health and hospital system — which oversees 11 acute care facilities, five skilled nursing facilities, and 50 other care locations — asserts that "its hospitals are in no way strained" in their capacity to provide that care, a spokesperson told Becker's.
The statement from the spokesperson for NYC Health + Hospitals was shared following an Oct. 3 report from NBC that stated the influx of migrants had been "placing an enormous strain on the city's public hospital system." A statement that the NYC Health + Hospitals spokesperson refuted.
"Our hospitals are more than capable of sustaining care for these migrants alongside our normal patient population," the spokesperson told Becker's.
He also pointed to the New York City Mayor's Management Report for 2023, which shows that the system's unique primary care patient volume increased 3.2 percent, and there was a 5.4 percent increase in NYC Care enrollment numbers as well due to possible causes including "growing confidence in the program, new arrivals to New York City and increased enrollment capacity." The report also notes that the system's overall time to the next available appointment on average is 12 days for adults and 13 for pediatric patients, which is under its target of 14 calendar days. There was also a decrease in the number of uninsured patients in the last year, the report highlights.