Amid a community group's efforts to halt the closure of New York City-based Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital, New York state lawmakers are considering a bill that would require public notice and public engagement when a hospital seeks closure, AMNY reported April 9.
The bill, the Local Input in Community Healthcare Act, passed the New York State Assembly, according to the report. It is named after Long Island College Hospital, which closed in 2013. The state health department did not notify or seek input from the communities it served when it closed, the bill's sponsor, Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, said.
Under current law, hospitals are not required to give advance notice to elected officials or the affected community about a planned closure, according to an April 2 news release from Ms. Simon's office. A public hearing is not required until 30 days after a hospital's closure is approved by the state. The proposed legislation would require "adequate advance notice to local officials and the public" and a community forum held 150 days in advance of the proposed closure date, a final closure plan that addresses concerns raised at the community forum and public disclosure of all submitted plans by the Department of Health.
Mount Sinai announced its decision to close Beth Israel in September and the following month proposed a July 12 closure date. Mount Sinai has said it made the decision to close the hospital despite "massive investments and upgrades" in the past 10 years. The system said escalating losses and chronic underutilization with inpatient use typically at only 20 percent of capacity forced the issue.
A lawsuit led by Community Coalition to Save Beth Israel Hospital was filed in February, alleging the planned shutdown goes against New York's public health law, health department rules, the state constitution, human rights laws of the state and city, and the state Environmental Quality Review Act. The suit also alleges that Beth Israel and New York Eye and Ear Infirmary were financially healthy until Mount Sinai took over in 2013 by merging with Continuum Health Partners. Despite promising better care, Mount Sinai closed profitable units at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, such as labor and delivery and neonatal intensive care, and almost all ENT services at New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, according to the suit.
Mount Sinai is working on an updated closure plan with the Department of Health after it was returned to the system for being incomplete.
"The facts surrounding MSBI are very public and clear: Despite investing hundreds of millions of dollars to support and enhance the hospital in the past decade, MSBI has lost over $1 billion," a Mount Sinai spokesperson told Becker's.