Mount Sinai Health System has submitted an application to the state Department of Health to close and relocate Mount Sinai Beth Israel two blocks away as part of its $1 billion development of its downtown facilities.
The Manhattan hospital is currently licensed for 683 beds, according to the state Health Department, but hospital officials have said less than half that number are in use today. After the $600 million hospital project, the new hospital on Second Avenue between East 13th and 14th streets will have only 70 beds plus its emergency room. During construction, its current hospital will remain operational.
The facility is slated to open in 2023 and will share a campus with Mount Sinai's New York Eye and Ear Infirmary.
Mount Sinai's $1 billion investment in facilities below 34th Street includes a planned $140 million behavioral health center at the former Rivington House on the Lower East Side with 135 beds, including 115 licensed by the state, for mental health and substance-use treatment. It has more than 500 physicians practicing at 20 downtown centers
A major redesign is necessary given the financial condition of the hospital. Mount Sinai said it is focusing on increasing services available at outpatient offices as opposed to the less cost-efficient hospital setting.
Since acquiring Beth Israel Medical Center in a deal with Continuum Health Partners in 2013, Mount Sinai has lost a significant amount of money on the medical center's East Village and Brooklyn campuses. Those campuses lost $104.6 million last year on $904.9 million in operating revenue. That was an improvement from a $124.2 million loss in 2017.
"Mount Sinai files plans for $600M redesign of Beth Israel" originally appeared in Crain's New York Business.
