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Mount Sinai CEO Dr. Brendan Carr said the question of how long Beth Israel will be able to continue operating amid its planned closure is one he “loses sleep” over.
Clinicians have fled for other jobs and services have dwindled since news of the closure was first reported by Crain’s last September. The hospital has kept its operations afloat through the use of temporary physicians and negotiations with nurses’ unions to ensure enough staff to continue providing care, but Mount Sinai leadership continues to have conversations about how long that can go on, Carr said.
Carr maintained that it is necessary to close Beth Israel because of the hospital’s persistent financial challenges. But he added that the July 12 closure date, which the hospital has held firm on, may no longer be plausible.
Mount Sinai’s ability to close the hospital hinges on the Department of Health’s approval of an updated closure plan the health system submitted last month; even if it is approved, the hospital still faces a lawsuit from community advocates and elected officials who want to see the hospital stay open.
Carr made the comments at a Crain’s health care event in Midtown on Thursday, responding to a question from Editor-in-Chief Cory Schouten, who asked whether Beth Israel could realistically close down in a month.
“They are holding it together,” Carr said. “But it doesn’t feel like people disconnected and removed from what’s happening inside the hospital should subvert the DOH and hospital leadership from making decisions.”
Mount Sinai has repeatedly said that it has to close Beth Israel because it cannot keep pouring money into the hospital to keep it afloat, despite skepticism from local elected officials and community advocates about Beth Israel’s deficits. Recent documents filed by the health system show that Beth Israel had just $29 million in cash reserves by the end of 2023 – a sum that the hospital says it has exhausted.
The health system has faced pushback from state health regulators on its claims. The Department of Health rejected Mount Sinai’s bid to close Beth Israel in April because it said the health system did not provide enough information about its intentions or implications on the community. Mount Sinai submitted a new closure plan for Beth Israel last month and stayed firm on its intention to shutter the hospital by July 12. It’s currently waiting for state health officials’ approval.
But the Department of Health is not Mount Sinai’s only obstacle. A group of community activists and politicians filed a lawsuit against the health system in February alleging that it had prematurely shut down critical services and is closing the hospital to benefit from what could be a lucrative real estate deal. The lawsuit also names the state Health department as a defendant.
A Manhattan judge issued a temporary restraining order against the closure earlier this year, ordering Beth Israel to maintain all beds and restore services that it has already shut down.
Hospital closures are a byproduct of a health care system that’s drastically changing, Carr said. Patients are less frequently getting care in hospitals as more services move to physicians’ offices and in peoples’ homes.
The shift away from hospital care has led to financial challenges among hospitals, but it’s also led to innovation, Carr said. Physicians now have the ability to perform joint replacements without requiring a hospital stay and can infuse chemotherapy to a cancer patient at home.
Mount Sinai is also innovating how it provides care through the use of telehealth and artificial technologies, Carr said. Virtual care models are collecting more information and stitching together a fuller picture of patients’ health, and some artificial intelligence technologies have the potential to help clinicians make decisions about end-of-life care.
“It’s going to deliver the future of health care,” Carr said.
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Amanda D'Ambrosio , 2024-06-13 22:04:39
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