Four more Mount Sinai facilities could be in jeopardy of closure if a lawsuit barring its shutdown of Beth Israel Hospital continues to drag on, the health system warned in a letter to the top judge in Manhattan’s supreme court, where the ongoing lawsuit is playing out.
Mount Sinai said the effort in court by community advocates has led to $75 million in losses in what lawyers for the health system described as “draconian” terms that have forced the hospital to stay open after the state Department of Health approved its closure plan five months ago. The letter, addressed to Administrative Judge Suzanne Adams, who leads the state’s trial court in Manhattan, asks for a decision on its motion to dismiss the case immediately.
Justice Jeffrey Pearlman, who is presiding over the Beth Israel case in the court overseen by Judge Adams, issued an order in August blocking the hospital from closing its doors or removing any additional staff until the case was resolved. But Pearlman missed a Dec. 30 deadline that required him to rule on whether the closure can commence, a delay that Mount Sinai says is causing it to bleed cash keeping the ailing hospital open.
The financial challenges may compel executives to shut down other facilities outside of Beth Israel’s main 16th Street campus, including the Behavioral Health Center at Rivington, Mount Sinai Brooklyn, the Chelsea Cancer Center and the Union Square Clinic, according to the letter – locations not included in the original closure plan.
“Delaying closure of the hospital may force the closure of those other [Mount Sinai Beth Israel] facilities,” the letter said. The health system has floated the potential closure of the facilities in at least two letters to the court dating back to early December, saying that its auditor has issued warnings about the viability of facilities tied to Beth Israel’s campus.
Loren Riegelhaupt, an outside communications consultant representing Mount Sinai, declined to comment on the letter, but reiterated the financial losses the health system has incurred from keeping Beth Israel open. “We have a responsibility to our nearly 50,000 employees and millions of patients to explore every possible option to ensure we are able to deliver the world-class care our patients demand and deserve.”
Mount Sinai says it is now losing between $500,000 and $600,000 a day to keep Beth Israel’s doors open. Continued deficits have caused credit rating agencies to question whether the health system will be able to pay its debts; both S&P and Moody’s have downgraded Mount Sinai’s credit, citing continued losses at Beth Israel Hospital and the uncertainty around the closure.
Mount Sinai executives projected that the entire health system, which has eight hospital campuses in and around the city, will suffer a loss of $420 million in 2024, about half of which is fueled by losses from the pending Beth Israel closure, the letter said.
“This state of limbo is intolerable,” the letter reads. “The status quo presents irreparable risks that could permanently impact the Mount Sinai Health System’s ability to serve not only the very populations Plaintiffs purport to represent but the broader New York City patient population.”
