“As elected officials representing Lower Manhattan, we have fought in response to Mount Sinai Health System’s application to close Beth Israel Hospital to ensure our community continues to have full access to high-quality health care. Today, the state Department of Health (DOH) issued a conditional approval of the closure with several important contingencies that must be met before Mount Sinai can close Beth Israel Hospital. While the conditions reflect the efforts DOH and Mount Sinai have made to address the serious concerns we raised on behalf of our constituents, today’s announcement falls short of providing the assurance our community needs and deserves that the closure will not disrupt its access to essential health care. The lack of a clear timeframe for the closure will continue to sow seeds of uncertainty in our community.
“With regard to emergency care, it would be beneficial for the closure to occur assuming other hospitals have the capacity to accommodate the full volume of ambulances and other emergency visits, and in particular, it would be preferable for Beth Israel Hospital not to be allowed to close until Mount Sinai has reached a binding agreement with the NYC Department of Health (H+H) to provide sufficient funding and other resources to allow Bellevue Hospital to expand its emergency department and ensure high quality care for the thousands of additional patients who visit Bellevue each year. We will continue to advocate for Bellevue patients and urge H+H not to approve any agreement that is not contingent on Mount Sinai and the Department of Health ensuring all necessary resources. We also urge the Department of Health to closely monitor the care of stroke and heart disease patients following the closure of Beth Israel Hospital.
“We also believe that the new urgent care facility that Mount Sinai will be required to permanently locate on the New York Eye and Ear Hospital campus could alleviate some of the lost capacity at Beth Israel by being open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, accepting Medicaid, Medicare and uninsured patients, and providing advanced services beyond those typically available at urgent care facilities. While we recognize and appreciate that the Department of Health and Mount Sinai added this requirement and expanded its scope in response to our advocacy, we are very concerned that the scope of this facility’s services is largely unspecified in the conditional approval of closure and that 24/7 operation is only guaranteed until a reevaluation in three months. We urge the Department of Health to require that the new urgent care facility be fully staffed and provide a full range of services, and to specifically detail these in any final closure plan.
“Finally, it is critical that the Department of Health and Mount Sinai comply with the conditions of the closure, which require strong transfer agreements to be in place between Mount Sinai and nearby hospitals, including ensuring that patients with behavioral health care needs can be easily transferred from Bellevue and other hospitals to the Mount Sinai Behavioral Health Center on Rivington Street. This process is critical to keeping beds open as patient volumes at these hospitals will increase as a result of the closure.”
“There is no replacement for the full-service general hospital that our community will lose with the closure of Beth Israel Hospital. We are extremely disappointed by today’s announcement and remain committed to doing all we can to ensure the community we represent has full access to quality health care. As this process continues, we urge Mount Sinai and the Department of Health to proceed with the utmost transparency and effective community engagement.”
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