Photo by Stacie Joy
The date was revealed after the health system presented a plan last Wednesday to state authorities on the closure of the 799-bed teaching hospital on First Avenue.
Last month, Mount Sinai officials stated they would phase out operations here, though didn't provide a timeline.
Per Becker's on Friday:
"We do not take this decision lightly, but due to the changing healthcare landscape and the unfortunate economic reality at MSBI, urgent action is required to preserve the health and vitality of the overall system," Mount Sinai said in a statement.The hospital is running at only 20% to 25% capacity and has incurred more than $1 billion in losses, with 2023 losses expected to be approximately $150 million, the hospital said.
Mount Sinai officials have said that they remain committed to other facilities it operates downtown.
There's also speculation that Mount Sinai Beth Israel, the parent corporation of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, might try to sell the property it owns on 14th Street and Second Avenue, 13th Street and Second Avenue, and 13th Street between First Avenue and Second Avenue — which "could fetch up to $70 million if sold for apartment-building construction," per the Post back in February.
11 comments:
All the more reason if our local billionaire does manage to save Charas, some sort of healthcare - even a clinic - would be a huge asset to the neighborhood particularly for the elderly or others with mobility issues.
The insurance and pharmaceutical rackets are crushing public health. We live in a world of expanding incredible medical marvels which will be more and more only available to the very rich.
Healthcare in the US is a colossal joke. Capitalism is king here. You either have to be poor or wealthy to access it. If you're in between, you're screwed with exorbitant copays and premiums, especially if you're living with a chronic illness. Without coverage, my medication alone would amount to a few thousand a month. Other countries along with second and third world societies don't have this issue because they deem it as a human right where monetization has caps with how much can be charged per patient and per procedure. The hospitals abroad are better in many ways. The taxes most citizens pay is returned to them in the form of socialism. A majority of our taxes fund the military. The closure of this hospital and its services is a travesty for our community.
A million years ago (it seems like) my Mom was a receptionist at Beth Israel. Thought she might land a handsome and rich doctor, but nope, just landed my dad, an impoverished student.
Increasingly, Mt. Sinai is the hospital I don't trust, b/c they seem more interested in real estate than medical care. There's a reason Beth Israel has the reputation it has.
And Mt. Sinai certainly doesn't give a fig about the beautiful & historic building at 13th & 2nd Ave. They will gladly allow that to be obliterated by some glassy condos - there is no respect for history, for architecture, nor for what they will be doing to the neighborhood.
I feel Mt. Sinai is, in that respect, directly contributing to erasing the things about NYC that are actually worth keeping. It's a shame that the only things the bigwigs "see" are their bottom line & their own paychecks.
A friend was in Beth Israel two years ago and it was a dump back then. Grungy, badly in need of paint, old abused furnishings. Everyone said that they weren't keeping it up because it was about to be closed. And yet, it's still open. Yes, it serves the neighborhood, but NYU is only 15 blocks away.
Well said, 2:43
The citizens of this community need decent medical facilities more than real estate developments that make cookie cutter apartments going for $4,000 a month in rent. Closing this hospital is a mistake what is going to happen during the next pandemic where people will be waiting in line for blocks for hours to receive medical care. Terrible greedy decision making by the corporation that owns Beth Israel.
We don’t need as many full-scale hospitals like Beth Israel as we used to, due to changing health care delivery and understanding of needs and what is the most effective way to meet them. Better to have fewer and financially stronger ones. Our neighborhood has NYU and Bellevue to the north and NY Presbyterian (and Gouvenor? Not sure what they do) to the south so I don’t oppose closing Beth Israel. I would like to see some of their services (like hospice and mental health) kept/expanded (if they’re even still there).
We need urgent care facilities that are not owned by insurance companies. I went to urgent care one evening a few weeks ago. They sent me to the emergency room because they could not give me the specific medication I needed. At 6pm on a Thursday, Beth Israel was packed. There weren’t enough chairs for patients in the waiting room. I waited over four hours to be seen. When they close the hospital, I cannot imagine what the wait time will be at the other hospitals.
We're f--ked.
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