Cabrini Medical Center shut its doors yesterday, becoming the second hospital in New York City to comply with the recommendations of a state health care commission.

At 12:01 a.m. yesterday, the 338-bed Gramercy Park hospital handed over operations of its 60 hospice beds to St. Vincent’s Hospital in Greenwich Village. Over the weekend, Cabrini shut its emergency department and operating rooms after it could not make payroll, state health officials said.

Cabrini was one of five hospitals in New York City slated for closure in 2006 by the Commission on Health Care Facilities in the 21st Century. Last fall, St. Vincent’s Midtown Hospital closed. Cabrini officials declined to comment, but a health department spokeswoman, Claudia Hutton, said, “Our issue was continuity of care. We wanted to make sure they could get through the weekend.”

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HEALTH ADVOCATES PRAISE GOVERNOR PATERSON

Health care advocates expressed support for Governor Paterson, who took office yesterday.

“David Paterson has distinguished himself by being a consistent and passionate voice for those New Yorkers who would otherwise have no voice,” the president of the Healthcare Association of New York State, Daniel Sisto, said in a statement.

In the past week, advocates have offered insight into Mr. Paterson’s previous interest in medically underserved communities, health insurance issues, and stem cell research. As governor, Mr. Paterson is seeking to complete the state budget, which includes major health care reforms, on time.

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AIDS GROUP LAUNCHES AWARENESS CAMPAIGNS

An AIDS advocacy group plans to launch two advertising campaigns tomorrow targeting women and young men of color.

The Gay Men’s Health Crisis is posting billboards and posters on phone booths citywide. One campaign, called “HIV: We’re Not Taking it Lying Down,” targets women in Harlem and East New York. Another, the “I Love My Boo” campaign, targets gay men in Harlem, the East Village, Chelsea, and other neighborhoods. The campaigns represent a “deliberate attempt to catch their attention in the neighborhoods where they live or socialize,” the GMHC’s spokesman, Noel Alicea, said.

According to city health officials, one in 70 New Yorkers is infected with HIV or AIDS. Women account for one-third of new cases, and black men are six times more likely to die from AIDS than white men.

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REPORT: PUBLIC HOSPITALS CORPORATION FACING OPERATING DEFICIT

The city’s public hospital system is facing an operating deficit, according to an analysis by the city’s Independent Budget Office.

In a fiscal brief, officials projected an average annual deficit of $314 million between 2008 and 2012.

In recent years, the city has subsidized the Health and Hospitals Corporation, a network of 11 public hospitals. Between 2005 and 2008, the average annual subsidy was $1.2 billion, up from $290 million between 1999 and 2004.

Slow revenue growth and rising expenses could deplete the corporation’s existing $1 billion cash reserve by 2012, budget officials said.

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METROPOLITAN OPENS PALLIATIVE CARE UNIT

Metropolitan Hospital Center has opened a palliative care unit that aims to alleviate pain in patients with incurable diseases.

The 341-bed Harlem hospital, part of the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, also received a $200,000 grant from the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation to establish a palliative medicine fellowship.

The new unit, the Pain Management and Palliative Care Center, is part of a $3 million initiative by HHC to develop palliative care programs in nine of its 11 hospitals.

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INSURANCE AND HEALTH CARE FRAUD ARRESTS INCREASES

There were 708 insurance- and health-care-related fraud arrests in 2007, the state Insurance Department has reported.

In an annual report, the agency said the number of arrests was up 17% from 2006, when there were 604 arrests stemming from insurance and health care scams.

The agency reported that 24 individuals were arrested for their alleged involvement in selling $6 million in steroids and human growth hormone over the Internet in 2007.

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HOSPITAL FUND ANNOUNCES SEVEN GRANTS

The United Hospital Fund has announced seven grants, totaling $585,000, to projects aimed at improving health care services in New York City. The grants, announced last week, are part of $2.2 million in funding that the organization distributes each year.

The latest round of grants gives $200,000 to the city’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, a sum to be distributed over two years, to train physicians and nurses in palliative care, which aims to alleviate pain in patients with incurable disease.

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MONTEFIORE’S IT PROGRAM TO BE SHOWCASED AT SUMMIT

Montefiore Medical Center’s information technology system will be one of 11 hospital programs showcased tomorrow at a national health care summit.

The Partnership for Quality Care, a coalition of health care providers and their employees, will convene in Washington, D.C., to focus on improving treatment for chronically ill patients.

Montefiore, a 1,122-bed hospital system in the Bronx, is a member of the Greater New York Health Association, which is part of the PQC coalition. Coalition members also include the Service Employees International Union and others.

esolomont@nysun.com