GRAMERCY — Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital will close in stages over the next four years, shifting services to a network of facilities across Manhattan that will provide fewer than a quarter of the inpatient beds currently available at the hospital, according to a statement.
After weeks of rumors about its closure, Mount Sinai Health System announced on Wednesday it plans to launch a new “Mount Sinai Downtown Network,” a system of smaller hospitals, ambulatory care and outpatient surgical facilities across Manhattan below 34th Street.
The hospital group released a statement touting a $500 million investment to bring the system to life, but avoided mentioning closure when referring to Beth Israel's future, instead calling it a "transformation."
The 825-bed Beth Israel hospital will continue to provide some services over the next four years as the network gets up to speed, a spokesman said.
According to Mount Sinai officials, the new facilities would be able to provide the same care “except for the most complex cases and deliveries,” which will be dispersed to other hospitals in the Mount Sinai system, according to a statement.
The company plans to open a new and drastically smaller Mount Sinai Downtown Beth Israel Hospital, which will be located on 14th Street near Second Avenue and will include just 70 inpatient beds, with a capacity to double that in case of an emergency, according to the statement.
As a whole, the new network will have about 200 inpatient beds, according to a spokesman.
Beth Israel has been seeing fewer patients in recent years, with only about 60 percent of beds filled on an average day, according to a spokesman. But that average is still two times as many beds the organization expects to provide throughout the new network.
The plan comes in response to mounting financial difficulties and aging infrastructure at Beth Israel, where patient volume has plummeted by double digits in the past four years, according to a spokesman.
It was not immediately clear what might become of the building currently housing Beth Israel at First Avenue and East 16th Street.
Councilman Dan Garodnick, whose district includes areas next to Beth Israel, called on the hospital to talk directly with the community and release more information about its plans.
“There are more questions than answers at this point, and we will work to advance a robust public conversation about the implications of this wide-ranging proposal,” he said in a written statement on Wednesday.
"Although the existing facility may be aging and inefficient, Beth Israel has been a constant and important resource for the entire city, and for the East Side of Manhattan in particular. It is important that we ensure that no essential services are lost.”
