Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel is closing in 4 years; smaller facility planned for 14th and 2nd



The rumors turned out to be true: Mount Sinai Beth Israel is closing its facility on First Avenue at East 16th Street.

Here's NY1 with the scoop:

"What we are dealing with is an infrastructure that is old, a facility that isn't efficient and it lives in the most competitive environment on planet earth in health care," said Mount Sinai Beth Israel CEO Dr. Kenneth Davis.

The hospital essentially has been on life support for years, losing $250 million since 2012. Now its owner, Mount Sinai Health System, is pulling the plug and announcing plans to close it in four years.

Hospital officials say the closure of the facility is the only option financially. With how treatment is changing Mount Sinai Beth Israel is in an evolve or die situation.

Davis said that only 60 percent of the hospital's 856 beds are used on a daily basis.

Mount Sinai Health System reportedly plans to replace the existing facility by opening a smaller hospital on 14th Street and Second Avenue "with a full-service emergency department and 70 inpatient beds."

According to NY1, Mount Sinai will also expand its Ambulatory Care Center in Union Square.

Meanwhile, Crain's is reporting that hospital officials have placed Gilman Hall, an apartment building it uses to house medical residents, up for sale.

Per Crain's:

The 24-story property, at the corner of East 17th Street and First Avenue, could fetch as much as $80 million.

Citing several anonymous nurses, The Villager reported on May 13 that the hospital would be closing. A Mount Sinai spokesperson would neither confirm or deny the report at that time.

Updated 5 p.m.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the 16th Street facility/property could fetch up to $600 million.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Report: Mount Sinai Beth Israel 'will cut its inpatient capacity' (33 comments)

42 comments:

Gojira said...

I'm sure the Livingston Group or some other real estate dev-Hell-oper will be happy to take the buildings off Mt. Sinai's grubby hands, tear them down, and build anew, thus creating another traffic nightmare for First Avdnue and another multi-story playpen for some upcoming crop of puerile transplants.

Anonymous said...

Result: patients sent home directly from surgery.

Anonymous said...

Holy shit what the fuck!!!! The most basic of things like hospitals - poof.
Unreal. I don't know why people who aren't real residents, really rooted down residents, would move here.

Anonymous said...

I guess rich people never get ill or have accidents or really need surgery unless it is cosmetic. Good luck to all moving here in the future just hope you don't choke on a hoof while dining at a chef driven restaurant.

Anonymous said...

Aside from the loss of another hospital, say goodbye to the wonderful nameless neighborhood that is not quite EV, not quite Gramercy. Once the RE vultures are done it's gonna be million-dollar studios in "SoGram" and wall-to-wall WOOOing in Stuyvesant Square Park. Enjoy the peace while you still can.

cmarrtyy said...

I don't understand how the city allows this to happen. If there ever is an emergency similar to 9/11, a dirty bomb, a pandemic where would the patients be treated? Part of what a city administration has to do is provide education, safety and medical care of it's citizens... The only thing we're doing now is making the real estate industry rich.

Anonymous said...

Ask the mayor, ask the council...ask a psychic...get the same answers. Look the other way when the big r.e. guys have their way.

Meantime, 60% of 800 plus beds is 480 beds, which doesn't equal 70 beds... but who does that math?

An aging and expanding population... I dunno.

Anonymous said...

This is a serious problem and one that is not localized here. Hospitals are not being reimbursed for their costs and cannot afford to keep their doors open. The government does not run hospitals. This is not an action by the City. Nor does the city (or other government agency) have the power to make Beth Israel run a hospital against its will.

The problem is that the Federal government does not adequately reimburse hospitals for medicare and medicaid costs. In the past, the hospitals would get by through charging absurd amounts to insurance companies to cover the costs of what they weren't getting paid for treating other patients, but after a while the insurance companies started calling bull and refusing to pay for anything other than the insured's cost of treatment.

If you think it's bad here, you should see upstate. Many hospitals are turning into private clinics. That's bad. The ones that cannot do so close. That's worse. Particularly in the country where the next closest hospital can be a long way off.

Anonymous said...

Ten developers just put their mothers up for sale to raise funds to bid on this project.

Anonymous said...

@12:49 it's easy to understand how the city allowed this to happen: emergencies are bad for business! In the go go real estate climate build'em higher, build'em cheaper! Healthcare indu$try? Move'em in, move'em out, charge'em, slap on a bandaid and next patient! As long as nothing messes up their assembly line, why shouldn't the hospital monopolies be allowed a little taste of all that sweet luxury condo cash, too? Crunch enough numbers, spin enough bullshit and you can sell this as "improved health-care delivery for all of downtown" too! And as for light and sunshine, you can kiss what little still remains goodbye as one low-rise block after another falls and another glass-clad tower rises. Small businesses? See ya! Chainstores will anchor every single new tower. The scale and fate of everything below 34th Street has just been written in stone, after being thrown off a cliff.

Patrick Rogers said...

Does a new emergency medical center on Second Ave. and 14th Street mean more or less ambulances from Brooklyn screaming up First Ave. and Ave. A?

Anonymous said...

It is a very run down hospital- the kind you will do almost anything to avoid. The new urgent care facilities have rendered a lot of the ER's obsolete and unnecessary. That plus the trash-strewn, exhaust filled stretch of 16th btwn 1st and 2nd Ave- will not be missed. My two cents...

Anonymous said...

@cmarrtyy: The city can't stop it, can it? Force a business to remain in business? Assume that the $250 million dollar loss since 2012 is correct. Is that reversible? How long should that be alright to continue? At what cost, ultimately, to patient care? Stasis won't make anything better. A friend was admitted to ER last year --- good care, in fact, but eegads. It is an enormous footprint. We should aim for modern medical facilities that are at scale with need. That way, we put more dollars into care than keeping obsolete infrastructure from falling apart.

Anonymous said...

A basic human need is left to capitalists who decide who gets treatment and who doesn't. Canada spends about 60% of its tax revenue on a system that includes every citizen. Canada has also not invaded a dozen or so countries in the past 50 years as the USA has. The USA is a super power only by name not by example.

NENEnyc said...

THIS INCREDIBLY SAD. THERE IS NOT GOING TO BE A MAJOR INSTITUTION IN LOWER MANHATTAN - EASTSIDE/WESTSIDE - I AM JUST .....

NENEnyc said...

Incredibly Sad.....A century of Health Care History wiped away - Such a history that served Lower NYC in so many ways.

Anonymous said...

Will the School of Nursing also closed? That's the one that should have closed long time ago. No better than a for-profit University. One is better of going to University of Phoenix or an online Nursing School like the one advertised in the wee hours in the morning on Channel 55.

Anonymous said...

@1:42pm: You are correct. The scale of everything down in this once-lovely low-rise neighborhood is being upended, after the entire area and its residents have been thrown under the bus.

I guess if you have a health emergency down here, you'll have to hope that the ambulance can get through all the construction zones to reach you & then take you farther uptown to NYU or wherever. We'll all have to plan our emergencies carefully.

And about the new hospital facility they're going to put on 14th and 2nd, what does that mean for the Eye & Ear Infirmary?

This seriously makes me think of getting out of NYC. The shit-shows get financed and supported to the max; meanwhile ordinary people who want to live a decent-quality life are screwed.

I thought things couldn't get much worse in the East Village, but events keep proving me wrong.

Anonymous said...

2:00pm

The city can't make an unprofitable business continue to operate, but the city could acquire the hospital and continue to run it (at a loss). Then everyone complaining about it closing can complain about higher taxes (if they pay taxes of any note in the first place) or other public service cuts.

Anonymous said...

The mayor’s view is too rosy on the city’s reeling Health and Hospitals System — and the city may be on the hook for another $365 million in 2017 to keep it afloat, Stringer said.

“Despite the unprecedented level of assistance and the release of a broad turnaround plan, substantial risks remain,” he said. “The current strategy for restoring H&H to financial health relies heavily on securing additional state and federal revenue, increasing patient market share, and implementing efficiency, all of which have historically proved challenging.”

Yes going to run out of other peoples money sooner than thought...

Anonymous said...

@3:10. It actually can't. Localities are limited in their power. What's more, the City's money comes from Albany and they certainly have the good sense not to get into a failing hospital business. Even if you did get that, be careful what you wish for. Imagine that the same people in charge of the DMV are now in charge of your health. Good luck!

cmarrtyy said...

1:42, 2:00

In our end of the world Cabrini is gone, St. Vincent's is gone. My problem is that the city has to have medical treatment in case there is an emergency. A small hospital on 2nd & 14th is not enough for a 2 block area, let alone the EV. It's the same principal that's used in trash pick up. The city brags about 60 million tourists and yet there is little in the way of extra pickup from all the extra people. So we wallow in filth. There must be someone out there who cares.... Judging by the pronouncements or lack of pronouncements by our elected officials they don't care either.

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

I'm guessing (a) this is directly related to the clause in sale of ST-PCV that allows developers near the complex to purchase air rights and that (B) this was always just a real estate deal on Mt Sinai's part.

Next case: the lo-rise west side of 1st ave between 14th and 15th Sts. Have CVS and Duane Reade already sold their businesses to a developer too?

The sale of St Vincent's already has put a strain on Bellevue (not sure but imagine NYU hospital has been affected too. This will add to the strain. Is there anything the city can do to stop this?

Look for local businesses that cater to the hospital struggle to survive post-sale of Beth Israel and the businesses that will replace them will have next to nothing to do with the neighborhood. And how will all those staffers get absorbed into Mt Sinai's system?


Anonymous said...

i believe that nyu does NOT take medicaid.
the one time i needed an ambulance they took me to beth israel, said they could not take me to nyu.

Anonymous said...

I think Blackstone just found a potential buyer for the PCV/ST air rights

Anonymous said...

@4:39pm: Right. We are increasing the population (permanent and transient) in the area by leaps & bounds, but the support & infrastructure needed lag millions of miles behind. Trash collection, fire & police coverage, health services, schools, public transit.

Developers get tax breaks, but they are the ones bringing more people into an area - which leads to increased costs for city services. Since the developers aren't paying, and the condo owners aren't paying, then upon whom do the increased costs fall? Aren't ordinary taxpayers essentially SUBSIDIZING the developers? The developers walk away with their pockets stuffed full of money, and the rest of us are left paying for what the developers have done.

How is it possible that the people running one of the largest cities in the world cannot connect the dots on this??

Ken from Ken's Kitchen said...

May 25, 2016 at 5:02 PM

The ambulance took you to Beth Israel because that's who they had the contract with, not because you had Medicaid for insurance. If it was a city ambulance you would have been taken to Bellevue, because it's a city hospital.

Giovanni said...

Question. If the land alone is worth $600 million, what other hospital would ever be willing to spend over a billion dollars to replace what Mt Sinai is selling off? The answer is there isn't one. This is a permanent loss that will not be replaced even if you could find the land to build a new hospital complex on. You can't shut down the biggest hospital downtown and claim to be enhancing services to the area.. The only thing Mt. Sinai is enhancing is their balance sheet.

Anonymous said...

This is bullshit. I can't fucking believe this. Losing St. Vincent's was a tremendous loss for those of us below 14th Street and beyond. Other hospitals have closed too I think. Now this? This is impractical and disgraceful. What it boils down to is greed, money and power. What it should boil down to is a desperate need and desire to remain in this area of Manhattan. If this trend continues, where will one be directed in case of an emergency or accident? The wealthy are certainly not immune from mortality, disease, and the unknown. The only other word I can muster is injustice. What a sad finding. Shame on the person or group who made this decision, which is soon to become an imminent reality.

Anonymous said...

This actually isn't necessarily a bad thing, so long as savings are passed on patients (either directly or via insurance prices) and care isn't jeopardized.

Anonymous said...

@8:02pm: You are quite right - it boils down to greed, money & power - and also a profound disregard for even the *concept* of a neighborhood, or the *concept* of doing things that benefit the majority of those who live in an area.

I see this as a logical outgrowth of Bloomberg's view of NYC - he didn't care about the "little people", he just saw valuable land that could be made even more valuable, while enriching his friends.

Bloomberg did not have a view of NYC for New Yorkers; he had a view of it being easy pickin's for those with the fattest wallets. I don't know why anyone would think an entire borough full of only the ultra-wealthy would be a good idea, but then again Bloomberg is from Boston and has no real feeling for NYC, IMO. I believe that NYC is just a "case study" to him - we are NOT a real, living, breathing, functioning city in his mind.

Everyone involved in this deal is playing Monopoly with actual real estate, and people's lives & livelihoods be damned. Every park is viewed now in light of "hey, is there some 'underused' building we can empty and make into condos, b/c then they'll have park views and we can charge zillions?"

You'd have to be crazy to NOT see that where Beth Israel now stands will soon be marketed to condo-buyers as "the fashionable Stuyvesant Square district" in just the same way that Madison Square Park got made over from commercial to ultra-high-end residential. How long before there's a Shake Shack there? The park itself will end up commercialized, and will no longer be a quiet place for locals to retreat to.

DeBlasio owes us better; all of NYC government owes us better - but Bloomberg is the one who started the ball rolling on all of it. And the outcome seems preordained.

Anonymous said...

Newbies don't need a hospital here. When they get sick they just go back to Stamford Hospital. Besides they're not here for a long period of time, maybe a year or two after they are tired of all the bars, rolled ice cream, Michelin starred restaurant, unlimited boozy brunch that the East Village now provides.

Scuba Diva said...

At 5:02 PM, Anonymous said...

i believe that nyu does NOT take medicaid.
the one time i needed an ambulance they took me to beth israel, said they could not take me to nyu.


I think that's right; I spent a week a long time ago in Hospital for Joint Diseases on 2nd avenue, and they couldn't take my Medicaid, only Medicare.

Personally, I think newbies will be swayed by the new infirmary-themed bar on 2nd and C, and may opt to drink their troubles away.

Anonymous said...

10:20 PM: Have you ever eaten in a Michelin-starred restaurant? We have I think five in the East Village. Both Somtum Der and Kyo Ya are excellent, on different ends of the price spectrum.

Anonymous said...

That area is shitballs. East of Broadway is shitballs period. No culture.

EVQP said...

For what it's worth, let's voice our opposition and concerns at next month's Joint CB 3 & CB 6 meeting's Health, Seniors, & Human Services / Youth, Education, & Human Rights Committee

Thursday, June 9 at 6:30pm -- Thelma Burdick Community Room - 10 Stanton Street (corner of Bowery)

Joint CB 3 & CB 6 Human Services
1. Beth Israel Hospital presentation on future plans

(from today's CB3 June 2016 Calendar of Meetings e-mailing)

ee said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

I vaguely remember the "Round Building" going up in the sixties when I was a kid. It was about the only new construction in the area at that time and has always been something of an eyesore. Certainly does not fit in with the cityscape although I kind of liked that it was a bit "quirky." Frankly, I'm not that sorry to see it close as it had become pretty run down, and would note that they are going to open a smaller in-patient facility on Second and 14th that is more in line with the number of patients. I don't see the East Village will be bereft of medical facilities, what with the opening of several urgent care clinics on 14th and on Third Avenue. I would also observe that Beth Israel opened an outpatient at Union Square a number of years ago and the Bellevue/NYU complex is only ten blocks north on First. Being nostalgic for a money losing medical facility is no reason to keep it open.

Anonymous said...

This has nothing to do with nostalgia. It is about a neighborhood necessity.

A hospital is a lot more than just a piece of real estate and profit. In addition to ebing a community place, it is about research and education and specialized units But in today's world, it is all about soothing the millennials needs right here and now, thus urgent care centers where they can just walk in get a band-aid and tylenol and hope for the best and wash, rinse and repeat. Urgent centers do not have an oncology department or beds or treatments for the terminally ill. Ironically, urgent care center do not care for their patients. Hospitals do. Furthermore, where would one go after a post-op surgery or giving birth? Risk of infection and being hospitalized again increases if one is sent home.

Plus, hospitals provide jobs -- from the doctors, nurses, and other health care workers, to maintenance, facilities, cafeteria, etc.

Just because the building is run down does not mean that a health care facility should be totally eliminated so that another condominium can take its place. There are third world countries where its hospital is just merely a tent. Here in the East Village, a piece of luxury four walls is more important than a hospital. I surely hope that you or any of your loved one will stay healthy and will not have any need for a hospital and can just run to your nearest pharmacy -- there are plenty of those -- or these urgent care centers and get a quick fix.

Anonymous said...

I'm not interested in going to a walk-in freestanding doc center if I have anything potentially serious. Possible heart attack or stroke - time is of the essence - what's a freestanding clinic going to do for that, other than to call an ambulance from 911?

Scuba Diva said...

At 8:42 PM, Anonymous said:

Furthermore, where would one go after a post-op surgery or giving birth?

Well, one-day surgery is on the increase, and the longer you spend in a hospital, the higher your chances of contracting drug-resistant infections like MRSA.

Giving birth? Easy: home births are on the rise, so the more people do it, the more accepted it will become.

Anonymous said...

yah, just as the first case of antibiotic-resistant superbug is found in the u.s....we're gonna need a lot more hospitals soon, folks.

http://www.cnn.com/2016/05/26/health/first-superbug-cre-case-in-us/index.html