According to published reports, Mount Sinai sent the New York State Department of Health a new plan to close Beth Israel, sticking to the
previous timeline to shutter the 799-bed teaching hospital on First Avenue at 16th Street on July 12.
Mount Sinai Health System CEO Brendan Carr said, per
a letter dated May 17, that the health system will open an urgent care center at the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary compound (also once on the chopping block) on 14th Street and Second Avenue to lessen the impact of the closure, as
Politico reported.
The facility would provide a broader range of services, including x-rays, ultrasounds, and CT scans, than a typical urgent care center, like the two on 14th Street at or near Third Avenue.
"In looking at the current patients using the 16th Street emergency department, I believe that this expanded urgent care will address many of the concerns and needs of current patients," Carr wrote in the letter.
The latest plan also promises to help Bellevue Medical Center expand its existing emergency department to absorb and care for at least some of the patients displaced by a Beth Israel shutdown.
In December, the Department of Health ordered Mount Sinai to immediately stop the Beth Israel closure.
Despite the updated closing plan, 16 local elected officials voiced their opposition in a signed joint letter released yesterday...
"Our offices have received notice that the Mount Sinai Health System has resubmitted their application to close Beth Israel Hospital on July 12 of this year. This elimination of services on a hasty timeline without adequate community engagement remains unacceptable, and we urge the Department of Health to return this application. Mount Sinai must engage in a robust and collaborative process to fulfill its obligations to the community in ensuring access to high-quality health care is protected in lower Manhattan."
The Save Beth Israel and New York Eye & Ear Campaign also has concerns about the revised plan. Their letter can be found
here.
The
Times recently reported that patient care is suffering at Beth Israel, where cuts have meant the hospital can't care for critically ill new arrivals.
Mount Sinai officials say Beth Israel lost $1 billion in the last decade, and only $29 million remains in cash reserves.
Beth Israel was founded 143 years ago on the Lower East Side, moving to its current location in 1929.
