You're with Brian Kilmeade Hey, we are back and joining us now is Matthew Brunnerman, the NASA University Medical Center Chief who took over a couple of years ago at which time this hospital on Long Island was just getting hammered, was buried in debt and they managed to borrow their way out, but not before revealing somebody on the take to the point where the FBI could be looking at a massive investigation. And Matthew, welcome to Brian Kilmeade show. Hi Brian, thanks so much for having me. First off, why would a successful businessman like you try to turn around a hospital?
Well, very good question. I question myself every day right now why I agreed to do this, but the truth is, is my last child went off to college. My wife and I who actually like each other, um, were empty nesters. And I decided, you know, I was raised with gratitude and, um, I've been, my family and I've been very blessed and, um, I wanted to give back to the community and, um, wanted to donate my time to fixing things. And I have healthcare experience and business experience. And Bruce Blakeman told me that there was this hospital for the needy that would, was broken for decades. And of course that was a challenge accepted.
And uh, I, I stupidly stepped in stupidly, but you mean sarcastic. You ended up turning an $11 million profit, but what did you find when you got there? So when I got there, it was really like I was dumbfounded.
I have no political governmental experience. Um, you know, I was a business person, like a lot of people you hear about with those and Musk and Trump and these other guys that come into politics and government and in my own little microcosm, I saw it exactly. And when I walked in the door, I said, you know, Hey, can I get the current financials on the very first day? And you know, they were like, well, they hand me these numbers and they were a year and a half old.
And I was like, no, like current. They said, these are our most current financials. I said, okay, well, do you have an audit?
The audit was a year and a half old. I was like, do you have a budget for this year? No budget. I said, can you get the CFO and bring them in here? We don't have a CFO. I mean, when I walked in, it was like a disaster and I, you know, it was just a real mess. Supposed to get a hundred million from the state, right?
Yeah. So for 2024, we have a three page piece of paper from the New York department of health that simply says that we should be receiving NASA university medical center should be receiving a hundred million dollars and it breaks it down. $50 million from the fed, $50 million for the state matching share and a hundred million dollars total should be coming to the hospital. And how much came?
50. Where did the risk go? Uh, in New York state's pocket. So when I looked at it again, just trying to figure out, Hey, where are my revenue streams coming from? All right, we have a hospital, we have a nursing home, we service the prison under contract. These are all of our different areas where revenue comes from and what, and some of those places for a hospital were, you know, these different governmental programs that are designed to, for a safety net hospital, which is what we are. It's a special designation for, you know, the needy, for everyone to be able to access healthcare, um, in this country, uh, regardless of their ability to pay, that's our mission. So I'm going through it and some of the revenue streams are from state, federal and other government agencies for, you know, covering these people that can't pay.
And as I'm going through it, I look at this dish program, I'm trying to figure out how do I get more, you know, uh, we're going through it. And the staff tells me, I said, well, it says last year we got 50 million of cash. This piece of paper says a hundred, like what happened? And then that's where they were like, well, we, we have to post our money up to the, to the state. And then, and then we, we put that money back and then we, we get the money down. And I'm like, this is like a person on welfare having to subsidize themselves. Like, what are you talking about?
If, if you're on welfare and you're supposed to get a thousand a month, you, you're supposed to put up $500 to get 500, like something stinks. And that started my, my, my process to figure out like what's going on here. And obviously I found what I found. So you found what money was going to the Cayman islands?
Yeah. So basically, um, the, uh, uh, a hospital, you know, a hospital is, is self-insured, um, generally. Um, you know, we have doctors, lawyers, we deliver babies. Um, there's a lot of malpractice litigation. And, and so rather than have an insurance company cover something, the losses for something that big, we do something called self-insurance. And so our insurance agency, the biggest in the country, they process everything, they do all the work. And then we have an insurance reserve offshore that's calculated with them to, to cover, um, uh, uh, these malpractice claims should, should we win and have to pay. And at the time, uh, in Bermuda, uh, we had, um, and that's just part of the industry with insurance, but we had about $46 million offshore. And it wasn't, you didn't have access to it?
No. And so what, what the, uh, what it is, and again, this is, you know, I'm a business guy, so when I buy a company, I'm always looking for how, how someone's trying to get over where's the fraud. But Matt, why would it be offshore? Like, why wouldn't it be in your account? Like, why is it there? Did anyone ever give you an answer? Why you were there, why it's in the Cayman Islands?
No. And frankly, like, I'm not sure that that was as nefarious as the, the thing that I knew that they realized was that when they put this all together, the state was under common control. The, the, the hospital was basically a victim.
It's like having someone locked in your basement. The, the board of the hospital is comprised of 50% of the people appointed by the state, 50% by the county, and then all the executives and the chairman are appointed by the county. So, uh, before Blakeman was involved, it was under- He's the Nassau County executive.
Yes, yes. So before the Nassau County flipped and became Republican and Bruce came in, for, for, you know, a decade beforehand, um, you know, it was, there was a single party, you know, it was Democrats in the state and Democrats in the county, and they had the ability to dominate the hospital and kind of set this scheme up. And what was interesting is that they chose a pile of money that wasn't on our balance sheet. So it wasn't on the books of the hospital.
It's, it's, it's to our benefit, but it was hidden offshore, which was like very Enron-esque. So when you gave this to Kathy Hochul, the governor of New York, you expected to get a medal, but what'd you get? Yeah, no, I, I, I got retaliation. Like, they started putting false things about my family and me in the newspaper. They attacked me. Um, you know, they sent their henchmen in to talk to me and tell me I'm never going to win and I'm messing around in New York politics and I don't know what I'm in for. All the threats that they gave me were, were purported, weren't, uh, they were my friends.
So I would get like the head of knife or Richie Kessel would take me to lunch and tell me he has, I have no idea what these, these quote unquote people would do to me and how dangerous this is and how I should get out of it. And, you know, and they, they literally just turned it into a, a, an assault and threat on me. And then they put out false information in the local newspapers. I'm sitting here, I took it from $180 million loss when I walked in the door to a $11 million profit. We increased, uh, access to care because a lot of our people are hourly.
So we made nighttime hours, weekend hours. When I got here, Meg Ryan and her team took the hospital from a D rating nationally for our healthcare scores to a C. Like we, we fixed up the whole place. We lit it up like a beacon. We, we, you know, turn the finances around.
We, we, we increased collections last year alone, Brian, by $47 million. So you do all this, they're attacking you and now you got Kash Patel's attention? Yeah. So I'm cooperating right now with the DOJ and the FBI and, um, you know, we'll, we'll see what they think about it. And if you, if you've told this story and you, the fundamentals, do you think he's going to pick up the case?
A hundred percent. And Brian, look, I'm, I'm a, I'm not a healthcare lawyer, um, but I am a very seasoned, um, executive and know the law. Um, I went out and I, I know accounting. Grant Thornton, which is our auditor, has seen this and agrees with it. I hired, it was very funny because I actually, it took a little cajoling, but I managed to get the former general counsel of the New York department of health and the, who's also the former, um, ethics chair, uh, of New York state. I got that lawyer and his law firm to write me a legal opinion agreeing.
So this isn't like off the top of my head. I'm certain that this is a total violation. It's a huge coverup. It's totally corrupt and they, and, and the worst part and cash hotels from the neighborhood. So the FBI director is onto it.
Matthew Brunnerman best of luck though on the way. We'll be sure to track this story written up in the New York post today by the end news day. Fox news audio presents the Fox nation investigates podcast evil next door, exploring the life and crimes of five serial predators from across the United States. Listen and follow now at Fox, true crime.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Listen to the show at free on Fox news podcast, plus on apple podcast, Amazon music with your prime membership or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
