Mount Sinai Health System will shrink its Beth Israel hospital in New York City by roughly 785 beds as part of a $500 million system reorganization. This week, Mount Sinai Beth Israel's president announced her resignation.
Susan Somerville has decided to leave her position once the New York City-based system finds her successor.
"My husband has retired and I will be joining him in order to pursue new opportunities out East," Ms. Somerville said in a statement. She joined Beth Israel in 2014.
Under the system's capital project, Beth Israel will downsize from 856 beds to approximately 70. News of the change first broke in May.
In details shared this week, the system said some of Beth Israel's acute care services will be transferred to locations throughout the network over the next 18 months.
At the same time, the project will create a new network called Mount Sinai Downtown. It will include expanded and renovated outpatient facilities at three major sites with more than 35 operating and procedure rooms, as well as a network of 16 physician practice locations consisting of more than 600 physicians.
"Susan has provided amazing leadership during several challenging years as President of Beth Israel, and I truly cannot say enough good things about the job she's done. We are incredibly lucky to have had her as part of our team and very sad to see her go, but we understand her desire to make this transition and wish her all the best," said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, president and CEO of Mount Sinai Health System.
Mount Sinai has confirmed that union employees affected by the transformation will be offered other union opportunities at equal pay. So far, more than 150 Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital employees have accepted new opportunities at the same or higher salaries.