“This date will allow us to ramp down the facility in a manner that is seamless and safe for patients and staff,” Elizabeth Sellman, president and COO of Mount Sinai Beth Israel, said in a Feb. 24 employee memo shared with Becker’s.
The closure had been tied up in litigation from the Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel Hospital seeking to keep the hospital open after Mount Sinai shared plans to shutter the hospital in September 2023. Mount Sinai received conditional approval in July 2024 from the New York Department of Health to close Beth Israel, but the hospital was kept open due to the ongoing lawsuit.
Beth Israel said it is spending between $500,000 to $600,000 daily to maintain operations, and has lost over $1 billion over the last 10 years. In mid-January, Mount Sinai began moving equipment and employees at the hospital to other parts of the system to ensure other facilities were receiving proper patient care.
“Today’s decision, along with the Department of Health’s prior approval of our closure plan, means that we will immediately begin implementing the closure of the 16th Street campus of the hospital,” a spokesperson for the health system said in a Feb. 24 statement shared with Becker’s.
Mount Sinai will be opening a new expanded urgent care center March 26 two blocks south of Beth Israel to coincide with the closure.
Becker’s has reached out to the attorney for the community coalition and will update this story should more information become available.
