Mount Sinai stops elective surgeries, transfers patients amid potential nurse strike

Staff at Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside and Mount Sinai West have begun preparations ahead of a potential New York State Nurses Association strike Jan. 9, according to a memo reviewed by Crain’s.

The memo, shared to faculty, staff, students and trainees by the presidents of the three hospitals, says Mount Sinai Hospital has offered nurses a deal comparable to the tentative agreement reached by New York–Presbyterian and its nurses. Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Morningside are still in negotiations.

The hospitals’ plans include canceling some elective surgeries, with Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai West performing emergency surgeries only. All three hospitals, as well as Mount Sinai Beth Israel, have begun diverting the majority of ambulances away from their emergency rooms. Patients are being transferred out of the hospitals, including babies in neonatal intensive care.

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The three hospitals have begun discharging patients. Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai West plan to run inpatient services, while Mount Sinai Morningside is operating as a free-standing emergency department and inpatient child psychiatry unit for the duration of the potential strike.

Although administrators hoped NYSNA would rescind the 10-day strike notice it issued during the weekend, the memo states, the hospitals have to move forward with strike planning.

According to the memo, the hospitals continue to negotiate in good faith with NYSNA nurses, and the groups have already reached tentative agreements on some matters including health insurance, pensions and pandemic preparedness.

Thousands of NYSNA nurses voted last month to authorize a strike, with nurses at some hospitals still in the process of voting.

There are about 17,000 union nurses at 12 private hospitals in the city who are asking for better wages and improved staff-to-patient ratios.

Before Thursday morning, the hospitals kept largely mum about their strike preparation plans.

This story first appeared in Crain's New York Business.