Mineola, NY - Nassau County Executive Thomas R. Suozzi announced today that he has approved the recommendation by the Nassau Health Care Corporation (NHCC) to appoint Daniel A. Kane as acting President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the health care system. The NHCC Board of Directors formally approved Mr. Kane at a meeting last night.

"We cast a wide net in search of someone who could take on this extremely difficult task and I am confident that Dan Kane is an outstanding candidate for this position," said County Executive Suozzi. "He has the knowledge, experience and tenacity to rectify the many problems that have faced our public health care facilities. He is a seasoned health care professional."

NHCC is made up of Nassau University Medical Center, a 631 bed Level 1 trauma center and teaching hospital located in East Meadow, the A. Holly Paterson Extended Care Facility, which holds 889 nursing home beds, as well as seven community health centers located throughout Nassau County.

Mr. Kane stated: "This is certainly a huge challenge, but one that I am delighted to accept. The report published by Manat Phelps & Phillips earlier this year gives us a clear roadmap of where we need to focus our energies and make improvements. NHCC serves a crucial role for the residents of Nassau County as a healthcare provider and as one of the County's largest employers. We must not allow it to fail."

During the last 14 years, Kane served as President and CEO of the Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood, New Jersey. Prior to that, Kane served as CEO at tertiary hospitals in Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. Kane supervised a major expansion of programs and investment in state-of-the-art equipment. During his tenure the Medical Center established nationally recognized programs such as the New Jersey Institute for the Advancement for Bloodless Medicine and Surgery, the Heart and Vascular Institute of New Jersey and the Breast Care Center. Kane has also been actively involved in health care policy through his involvement with the New Jersey and American Hospital Associations.

The Manatt Phelps & Phillips report called for:

• strengthening the Board of Directors and management of NHCC
• developing contractual affiliations between NUMC and one or more of the premier healthcare networks in Nassau County
• restructuring hospital operations to focus on its core mission and increase efficiency of its day to day operations
• replacing the current AHP facility with a new facility on the East Meadow campus
• restructuring ambulatory care services including outpatient clinics and the six health care centers to more effectively serve communities

County Executive Suozzi's approval of Daniel Kane's appointment follows the announcement last month of his first two members to NHCC's Board of Directors. Eric Krasnoff, Chairman & CEO of Pall Corporation, located in East Hills and Dr. Barbara Ross-Lee, Dean of the New York College of Osteopathic Medicine and the first African-American Dean of a medical school in the United States were named to the Board by Suozzi because of their vast knowledge of managing large institutions. As acting President & CEO of NHCC, Mr. Kane is under a one-year contract and will begin his term immediately.