[ad_1]
Mount Sinai is holding firm to a July closure timeline for Beth Israel hospital in a new closure plan it submitted to the state.
The revised document was submitted Thursday afternoon, after the state Department of Health deemed the initial closure plan incomplete in April. It aims to address the state’s concerns about the hospital’s communication with elected officials about the closure, how the community weighed in during the process and how patient needs will be addressed once the hospital closes, and reveals additional financial information.
State officials but declined to comment on whether or not they would allow the closure to proceed until the review was complete.
The revised plan lays out the hospital’s efforts to involve the community in the process, noting that hospital president and chief operating officer Elizabeth Sellman appeared at a Nov. 28, 2023 public meeting with 148 attendees
Mount Sinai says it has coordinated with neighboring institutions such as Bellevue, NYU Langone and Lenox Hill to discuss ways to patch gaps in patient care and also pointed to its other locations as alternative options for patients.
Loren Riegelhaupt, a spokesman for the hospital system, told Crain’s that Beth Israel plans to help Bellevue renovate its emergency department, including acquiring an additional CT scanner and creating additional respite care services to help offset the impact of the closure.
The plan also includes findings from an independent financial assessment of the hospital, which found that the facility spent $219 million from 2020 to 2023 to offset $302 million in operating cash flow deficits at the campus, leaving the hospital’s cash reserves at $29 million as of the end of 2023. The hospital’s revenue also decreased by about $270 million before inflationary adjustments between 2014 and 2023, the new plan says.
In a cover letter, submitted alongside the plan, Sellman held firm on July 12 as a closure date for the hospital, noting that it is “even more imperative” now than when the initial closure plan was announced, as the hospital has reduced staff and stopped some services.
There are other forces at play that could impact the hospital’s closure date, namely a lawsuit filed by community activists and local politicians against Mount Sinai and the DOH which alleges that the hospital prematurely stopped services and suggests the closure, which would impact a slew of properties, is a real-estate cash grab.
Sellman requested that the state, which deemed the first version of the report incomplete, respond to the updated plan within 30 days.
[ad_2]
Amanda Glodowski , 2024-05-24 01:06:57
Source link