A state-ordered study of New York’s pandemic response has finally appeared, and it’s shaping up as a minor disaster of its own.

Released on June 14, the 262-page “after-action review” from the Olson Group, a Virginia-based consulting firm, has proven to be thinly researched, poorly written, sloppily presented and riddled with factual errors large and small.

It falls embarrassingly short of the deep, authoritative analysis that Gov. Hochul promised — and which the state desperately needs to arm itself against future viruses…

Click here to read the full op-ed.

About the Author

Bill Hammond

As the Empire Center’s senior fellow for health policy, Bill Hammond tracks fast-moving developments in New York’s massive health care industry, with a focus on how decisions made in Albany and Washington affect the well-being of patients, providers, taxpayers and the state’s economy.

Read more by Bill Hammond

You may also like

NY’s own researchers warn of state’s off-the-charts school spending

What was expected to be a mundane state-ordered study into how Albany doles out cash to local school districts turns out to be required reading for New York taxpayers — and state lawmakers. Read More

Hochul’s mad Medicaid spending woos health honchos

Perhaps the most damning commentary on Gov. Hochul’s Medicaid spending plan — which made up roughly half of the $252 billion state budget she released Tuesday — was the silence of the attack dogs. Last year, the hospital lobby spent millions on TV ads falsely accusing Hochul of “cutting” the state-run health plan, which covers 7 million lower-income New Yorkers. This year, the ad campaign has gone quiet, a sign she is giving hospitals everything they could want and more. Read More

New York Is a Cautionary Tale on Home Care

Fans of ’s “Medicare at Home” proposal should study up on New York’s bloated home healthcare system, which covers about 850,000 people. Its large scale and rapid growth embody a cent Read More

Hochul bows to health-worker union’s $9B senior-care power play that could bust NY’s budget

Gov. Hochul’s overhaul of the  reached a milestone last week when she named a Georgia-based company as the winning bidder to be the program’s statewide “fiscal intermediary” — and to replace  that currently handle those duties. The  dre Read More

Another Voice: Albany’s MTA congestion pricing battles have implications for Western New York

Gov. Kathy Hochul has taken blistering criticism for postponing congestion pricing, a long-planned $15 toll on drivers entering lower Manhattan meant to reduce traffic — and collect $15 tolls. Most of the drama may be playing out in New York City, but pay attention, upstate: you stand to lose — or win — in this fight. Read More

Another Voice: Money Isn’t the problem for New York schools – the lawmakers are

Anyone wondering how New York consistently has the nation’s highest public school spending but below-average student outcomes got a succinct explanation from Albany earlier this month. Read More

Court’s mail-in voting decision is a slap in the face to NY’s voters

So much for “no means no.” That’s the message from the state Court of Appeals, which ruled last week that New Yorkers don’t need an excuse to cast an absentee ballot by mail when they’re otherwise able to vote in person — even though the voters themselves have directly rejected such a measure. Read More

Hochul’s futile ‘energy summit’ can’t resolve NY’s impossible green goals

It’s a pity New York cannot power its economy on hubris, but state officials this week gave it a try. Read More