Locals Rail as Mt. Sinai Revises Push To Shutter Beth Israel By Mid-July

Mount Sinai is still trying to shut down Beth Israel Hospital by mid-July, and a coalition of local activists and political leaders are trying to stop them.

Despite the New York Department of Health deeming Mt. Sinai’s Beth Israel closure plans “deficient” back in April, the corporation clearly remains hellbent on closing the E. 16th hospital by July 12, citing its unprofitability–specifically, losses that total more than $1 billion–over the past decade.

On May 23, Mt. Sinai submitted a fresh closure application to the DOH, which it want the agency to rule on within 30 days. The corporation apparently began shutting down the hospital’s services last year, and continued doing so for months, despite also being slapped with both a cease-and-desist order in December and a temporary restraining order in February.

Mt. Sinai, while not budging on shuttering Beth Israel, is also now playing up a promise to build a new urgent care center at the NY Eye & Ear Institute.

In a letter addressed to multiple elected officials, Mt. Sinai CEO Brendan Carr wrote: “While preserving the existing facility or building a new hospital are unfortunately not feasible, Mount Sinai would like to commit to opening a new urgent care center on the NYEE campus upon the closure of the 16th Street campus. I envision a comprehensive urgent care center that would have enhanced hours, be open 7-days a week, and take all payers including Medicaid and Medicare.”

Mt. Sinai is also pledging funds to Bellevue, which has seen an uptick in diverted ambulance traffic since Beth Israel services began shuttering–a phenomenon considered illegal, in more ways than one, by prominent Mt. Sinai opponents such as the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel Hospital and the New York Eye & Ear Infirmary. The Coalition filed a mammoth lawsuit against Mt. Sinai over the closure plans in February, which led to the aforementioned restraining order.

Mt. Sinai claims the money would go towards Bellevue’s emergency department, a fresh CT scanner, and medical respite services.

Despite any apparent concessions, objectors to Beth Israel’s closure–including local elected officials–have remained steadfast. After Mt. Sinai submitted their new closure plan, a sizable contingent of politicians released a statement reiterating their qualms, including: Representative Jerry Nadler, Representative Dan Goldman, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, State Senator Kristen Gonzalez, State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, State Senator Liz Krueger, State Senator Brian Kavanagh, Assembly Member Harvey Epstein, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Assembly Member Grace Lee, Assembly Member Tony Simone, Council Member Carlina Rivera, Council Member Keith Powers, Council Member Christopher Marte, and Council Member Erik Bottcher.

“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 pols said.

Some of these politicians reiterated their concerns at the Stuy Town-Peter Cooper Village Tenant Association’s Annual Meeting, which was held on the evening of May 29. They were unsurprisingly joined by the tenant reps, who are concerned about losing a major source of healthcare across from the residential complex. In fact, if Beth Israel were to close, only one major hospital–NewYork-Presbyterian–would have a branch below 23rd St.

Susan Steinberg, the TA’s president, said that Beth Israel’s closure would create “a medical desert for us.” She gave a shoutout to the Community Coalition, which she credited with trying to “stop Mt. Sinai from “decimating our community, medically speaking.”

Kristen Gonzalez, a State Senator that represents the area, told tenants that the Mt. Sinai closure fight has been her office’s top healthcare “priority” for the past eight months. She also appeared to give thanks to petitioners such as the Community Coalition, calling them the “advocates that inform our electeds.”

”We know that without an emergency room in Lower Manhattan, 400,000 Lower Manhattan New Yorkers are gonna be affected,” Gonzalez said. She called the DOH’s April finding that Mt. Sinai’s closure plans were deficient a “win that hasn’t been seen in recent memory.”

Gonzalez added that she was optimistic that a recent bill, which requires more community input for hospital closures, will pass both houses of Albany’s legislature by next week. She also said she had a bill that would require the DOH to provide more data on the impacts of hospital closures.

The Community Coalition has posited that Mt. Sinai wants to shut down Beth Israel to reap a real estate windfall. After all, the E. 16th hospital is not unique in being a money-loser for the corporation.

“Beth Israel lost $172 million in 2023. But the MSHS main campus on the Upper east Side lost $195.7 million in 2023, Mt Sinai Roosevelt/St Lukes lost $122.1 million in 2023, and NYEE lost $24.8 million in 2023. So why choose Beth Israel and blame the closure on losses? Because the real estate on the south end of the Gramercy Park-Stuyvesant Park area is very, very valuable. The decision, apparently, has nothing to do with health care,” the Coalition’s plaintiffs wrote earlier this year.

As for now, Beth Israel–which was formally incorporated by Orthodox Jews on May 28, 1890–celebrated its 134th birthday at least somewhat intact.