Near-Death Experience

Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, one of two hospitals that serve Lower Manhattan, was slated to shut down on July 12, but a grassroots community campaign and persistent lobbying by elected officials have persuaded State regulators to block the move, at least for the time being.

Days before the scheduled closure date last Friday, officials in the State’s Department of Health (which must grant permission before any hospital can cease operations) announced that they had returned to the Mount Sinai Health System (the parent organization of Beth Israel Hospital) its application for consent to close, citing inconsistencies and missing information.

A joint statement from elected officials representing communities that would be affected by the closure (including Senator Brian Kavanagh, State Assembly members Deborah J. Glick and Grace Lee, and City Council member Christopher Marte) said, “we have met with the New York State Department of Health... over the course of nearly a year to elevate the concerns of our residents and advocate for data-informed decision making that will ensure that our communities continue to have full access to the healthcare services they need and deserve.”

The announcement by DOH does not necessarily indicate that the fight to save Beth Israel (located at First Avenue and 16th Street) has been won. As justification for its decision, Mount Sinai Health System claims that the hospital has lost more than $1 billion since 2012, has experienced a decline in admissions of more than half, and has suffered from an exodus of staff in recent years.

The DOH’s most recent decision follows months of similar close calls. In December, the agency issued a cease-and-desist order, to prevent Beth Israel from gradually eliminating departments and suspending services at the hospital, a pattern that critics have called stealth closure. In April of this year, DOH rejected a preliminary version of the Mount Sinai Health System’s closure plan, which was revised and updated, then resubmitted in May—once again, with the aim of shuttering the facility on July 12. Elected officials decried “the elimination of services on a hasty timeline without adequate community engagement,” adding, “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.”