The public health system that runs the beleaguered Nassau University Medical Center will get a seasoned hospital finance executive — who also worked in Long Island county government — as its permanent CEO and president, the board announced on Tuesday.

Thomas W. Stokes, 54, chief financial officer of Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan, will manage the day-to-day operations at Nassau's 530-bed, safety-net hospital in East Meadow, as well as the A. Holly Patterson Nursing Home, county jail inmate care and community health centers.

The appointment marks a turning point for NUMC, which has struggled financially and has been at the center of a tug-of-war between county and state lawmakers. Earlier this month, Newsday reported the institution is among New York's more financially fragile with

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