Mount Sinai sets tentative July closing date for Beth Israel campus

Mount Sinai tentatively plans to close its Beth Israel 16th Street campus on July 12, 2024, according to an internal memo to staff reviewed by Crain’s.

Sinai, which is shuttering the campus due to insurmountable financial challenges, submitted a closure plan to the state Department of Health on Wednesday, according to the memo signed by health system CEO Dr. Kenneth Davis and other executives.

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“Over the past decade, we have invested more than $1 billion into MSBI, and evaluated and reevaluated every possible path forward. But, in the end, this hospital—despite its brilliant, hardworking, and loyal staff—simply cannot overcome the realities of modern-day health care,” the memo reads.

The note emphasizes that the hospital and emergency room will remain open as July approaches and that Beth Israel’s closure will not impact the other facilities on the Beth Israel license, such as its new behavioral health center on the Lower East Side. The New York Eye & Ear Infirmary’s specialty services “will not be affected” by the campus closing, it reads.

The executives also noted that Mount Sinai will offer unionized employees jobs at the same pay elsewhere in the system and Sinai will “make every effort” to find new positions for impacted non-union employees.

According to the health system, Mount Sinai plans to close Beth Israel because of unsustainable financial losses. Sinai spokeswoman Lucia Lee said in September that the hospital stands to lose another $150 million this year on top of the nearly $1 billion in losses it has already sustained. Labor and supply costs at the hospital have grown while its inpatient census has dropped and Beth Israel, Lee said last month, is running at 20% capacity.

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Mount Sinai Beth Israel is a 696-bed teaching hospital that offers patients an emergency department, cardiology services, a comprehensive psychiatric emergency program, adult and pediatric surgery and inpatient and outpatient programs for New Yorkers with substance use disorders. It remains unclear what the space will be used for.

Oct. 26, 2023: This story has been updated to reflect that Beth Israel offers a comprehensive psychiatric emergency program instead of a comprehensive emergency psychiatric program.

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