Montefiore Health System is planning to break down dozens of hospital beds to make space for critical care capacity, sparking backlash from nurses who say the changes could exacerbate overcrowding in emergency departments and hospital hallways.
Montefiore is advancing a restructuring plan that could convert or move up to 47 medical-surgical beds from Weiler Hospital in Morris Park and Moses Hospital in Norwood so the hospital can add more intensive and coronary care beds, the health system said. The hospital says the changes are necessary so it can meet rising demand for complex procedures, but the nurses fear that any reduction in its standard bed count could worsen overcrowding in emergency rooms and hospital hallways.
The health system is on track to shut down medical-surgical beds and eliminate jobs across the two campuses by March 15, according to the New York State Nurses Association, which represents roughly 4,000 nurses who work at Montefiore. It has started sending termination letters to at least 27 nurses who staffed medical-surgical beds, according to the union, though it is not clear if those nurses will leave the system or take a position in a different unit.
Montefiore’s restructuring plan is a bid to increase in-demand intensive and coronary care capacity while ensuring patients can access medical-surgical beds at other facilities, said Bryan Lesswing, an outside communications consultant representing Montefiore. Twenty-five medical-surgical beds will become intensive care and coronary care beds, while the remaining 22 beds will be absorbed by other parts of the hospital, according to Montefiore. The changes stem from an increase in older patients and a higher need for critical care across the system, Lesswing said.
Montefiore cited its critical care investments – including a $15 million, 21-bed intensive care unit at Moses Hospital and a $5 million expansion of its 16-bed coronary care unit – in its move to increase access to advanced medical services.
Still, the nurses say that the reduction in medical-surgical beds will contribute to an influx of patients sitting in the emergency room and the hallways.
“Fewer beds means less care,” Linda Appau, a nurse who works in the medical-surgical unit at Moses that is slated for closure, said in a statement. She said the hospital needs more beds to reduce emergency room wait times and overcrowding, with the hospitals reporting in some instances that 500 to 600 patients each month had to stay in hallways and overflow areas because they didn’t have enough space to admit them.
The restructuring plan could impact operations in one of the country’s busiest emergency rooms. Moses Hospital, which has 816 beds, is the ninth-busiest emergency department in the U.S., clocking more than 145,000 visits in 2024, according to data from Becker’s Hospital Review.
