Mount Sinai Beth Israel in East Village will no longer close July 12. Here's why.
NEW YORK -- Mount Sinai Beth Israel in the East Village will no longer close Friday.
According to a memo from Mount Sinai leadership sent out Wednesday, they are still waiting for the Department of Health's approval of their closure plan, which they said was submitted in October.
Mount Sinai said it will not start the closure process without state approval and "until the legal hurdles are cleared," but they said there are risks associated with keeping the hospital open, including staffing problems.
In a statement, the hospital said, "We firmly believe it is even more vital that we close MSBI as quickly as possible. We submitted our plans over 10 months ago and we will soon be past the date when we thought we could safely remain open. The actual closure date now depends on state and legal decisions but the urgency and need to close has never been greater."
Mount Sinai had planned to close the hospital Friday, citing financial struggles.
Mount Sinai cites financial struggles for closure of Beth Israel location
The health system first announced plans to close the hospital located at the corner of East 16th Street and First Avenue in September, drawing pushback from the community.
In a statement Wednesday, New York City Councilmember Carlina Rivera said in part, "I remain firm in my position that the closure of Beth Israel would have devastating consequences and that mitigations proposed by Mount Sinai remain wholly insufficient to support residents in maintaining their health and wellbeing. It will take years for existing alternative healthcare providers to scale up their infrastructure to meet the demand that will be placed on them, and the State must intervene to halt Mount Sinai's hasty efforts to close the hospital down."
A spokesperson said the hospital had over $1 billion in losses in the past 10 years and was operating at 20% capacity.