Beth Israel closure plan rejected by NY health department — for now
Some elected officials called the decision a "major win." The hospital says it will try anew. The New York state health department has rejected plans to close Lower Manhattan's Mount Sinai Beth Israel, a hospital that has been closed due to financial losses and declining patient census. The decision comes after both the health department and a state Supreme Court judge repeatedly ordered the hospital to stop shutting down services without permission in recent months. A coalition of elected officials representing Manhattan, including U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, called the decision a "major win" for the community and pledged to continue working to protect health care access for over 400,000 New Yorkers. The hospital's closure plan was submitted for state approval last fall, but did not adequately prove financial losses or a declining patient population, according to state health officials. The closure plan also did not provide evidence that the hospital had properly notified and received feedback from the community, as state law requires.
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The state health department has rejected plans for closing Lower Manhattan's Mount Sinai Beth Israel as “incomplete,” sending hospital leaders back to the drawing board.
The decision comes after both the health department and a state Supreme Court judge repeatedly ordered the hospital to stop shutting down services without permission in recent months.
Loren Riegelhaupt, a spokesperson for Beth Israel, said the hospital will resubmit its closure plan. But a coalition of a dozen elected officials representing Manhattan, including U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler, called the health department’s decision a “major win for our community” in a joint statement on Wednesday.
“While this is not an outright rejection of the plan, it brings more accountability to one of the biggest health systems in New York,” the elected officials said. “We will continue working to protect health care access for over 400,000 New Yorkers in Lower Manhattan."
Beth Israel officials submitted their plan to close the hospital for state approval last fall. They said the hospital had to shut down because of massive financial losses and a declining patient census.
But the submission didn’t sufficiently prove either of those assertions, state health officials wrote in a letter to Beth Israel President Elizabeth Sellman on Tuesday. The closure plan also didn’t provide evidence that the hospital had properly notified and received feedback from the community and local elected officials, as state law requires according to the health department.
Health officials ordered Beth Israel to work with other nearby hospitals to confirm there would still be sufficient emergency medical capacity following the closure.
A community coalition suing Beth Israel to stop the closure filed the health department letter as evidence in the case on Wednesday.
“We are in receipt of [the health department’s] response to our proposed closure plan and look forward to working with them in providing the supplemental information they have requested, including updated data on Beth Israel’s deteriorating financial circumstances and greater details on all the communications the hospital has had with the community, staff and governmental officials,” Riegelhaupt said in a statement.
Hospital leaders are tasked with figuring out how to restore services that have been greatly reduced in recent months as they await a final decision from the health department.
The department recently released a report finding that Beth Israel had moved forward with planned service reductions even after the agency sent the hospital a cease-and-desist order in December. Some patients had to be transferred to different hospitals in the midst of life-threatening emergencies, the department found.
When asked about some of these service reductions last month, Riegelhaupt said they were necessary to maintain patient safety because of an exodus of hospital staff following the closure announcement.
But state Supreme Court Judge Nicholas Moyne placed Beth Israel under an updated restraining order last week that requires the hospital to refrain from closing additional beds and services and “make their best efforts to restore” any services that have been cut since the health department issued its cease-and-desist order on Dec. 21.
Moyne also ordered hospital leaders to “use their best efforts” to enable the FDNY to resume bringing patients to Beth Israel who are currently being diverted to other medical centers.
“I'd say they're between a rock and a hard place,” said Arthur Schwartz, the attorney who brought the lawsuit against Beth Israel to stop the closure. He added that it’s a position “I don’t feel bad putting them in.”
A hearing in the case is scheduled for next Wednesday.