(Faqs): the FUTURE of MOUNT

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQs):

GENERAL:

What is Mount Sinai Downtown?

Mount Sinai Downtown will be an expanded and unified network of state-of-the-art facilities stretching from the East River to the Hudson River below 34th Street. The new network will include a new, smaller Mount Sinai Downtown Beth Israel (MSBI) hospital with approximately 70 beds, operating and procedure rooms, lab services and imaging equipment with a brand-new state-of-the-art Emergency Department (ED), two blocks from the current MSBI. In addition there will be expanded and renovated outpatient facilities at three major sites, with more than 35 operating and procedure rooms, and an extensive network of 16 physician practice locations with more than 600 doctors. The transformation will also include a major investment to support and strengthen behavioral health services, anchored at MSBI’s Bernstein Pavilion. The150 behavioral health inpatient beds currently at the Beth Israel campus will remain open. Additionally, New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai will be preserved and enhanced.

Why not rebuild the old MSBI?

Much of the existing MSBI infrastructure is aging and unable to meet the needs of the modern health care landscape. On average, less than sixty percent of the hospital’s licensed beds are occupied and patient volume has decreased by double digits since 2012. Rebuilding it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars and during construction the community would be without vital services. Unlike the 19 New York City hospitals that have shut their doors since 2000, Mount Sinai is choosing instead to build a new hospital and transform care delivery in order to dramatically improve access, increase quality and preserve jobs.

Are you closing MSBI?

No. This transformation will take place over several years during which the current MSBI will remain open for business, continuing to provide health care for residents of the Downtown community. All of MSBI’s services will continue to be available in our Downtown network and many services will be enhanced to provide better quality care and patient outcomes – except for the most complex cases, as well as deliveries, which will be attended to at one of the other hospitals in the Mount Sinai Health System. Additionally, MSBI’s current ED will remain open until the new ED is constructed.

Can you describe the new MSBI hospital and ED in more detail? Central to the downtown transformation is the new, smaller Mount Sinai Downtown Beth Israel hospital, which will include approximately 70 beds and a brand new state-of-the-art Emergency Department (ED), located at 14th Street near Second Avenue -- just two blocks south of the current MSBI campus. The hospital will be able to handle general surgeries such as gall bladder, hernia and appendectomies. The ED will accept ambulances and will be able to handle all emergencies, such as heart attack and stroke, on site. It will also include a pediatric ED. Patients with the most complex conditions will be stabilized and transported to other hospitals in the Mount Sinai Health System.

Service at the existing MSBI ED will continue without interruption until the new facility opens, which is expected in about four years. The new MSBI hospital’s inpatient beds may be increased in the event the community’s health care needs require additional capacity.

What is the timeline for this transformation?

The plan will transform MSBI gradually over four years. All MSBI’s services will continue to be available in our Downtown network – except for the most complex cases and deliveries, which will be treated at other hospitals in the Mount Sinai Health System. Any changes during this transformation will be made with the sole intention of enhancing quality and improving outcomes. Patients will be able to continue to see the doctors they know and trust.

PROGRAMS AND SERVICES:

Can I keep my doctor?

Yes. We know how important your relationships with your doctors are, so be assured that you will be able to continue to see the doctors you know and trust.

Will the community be left without an ER for any period of time?

No, emergency service will be uninterrupted.

What about emergency treatment for children?

The new Emergency Department will include a pediatric ED.

You are reducing beds. Is that really in the best interest of the community?

Yes. With the continued shift to ambulatory and home care, there are currently too many inpatient beds, particularly in Manhattan. In fact, the rate of overall empty beds in NYC has increased in the past years, even despite hospital closures. At Beth Israel, patient volume is down by double digits every year and roughly half of the beds at the hospital are in use.

The closure of St. Vincent’s Manhattan has not resulted in the increased use of inpatient beds in downtown Manhattan hospitals. Since the closure in 2010 of St. Vincent’s Manhattan, the total average daily inpatient census of Bellevue, NYU Langone, NYP Lower Manhattan, MSBI and NYEE has declined.

MSBI currently occupies about 450 beds (150 Behavioral Health + approximately 300 beds currently in use). Under the new plan, there will be approximately 220 beds (150 Behavioral Health + 70 at new the hospital). The remain ing beds will no longer be needed because of advances that permit outpatient surgery and our innovative Hospital at Home program. In addition, some of the most complex conditions and deliveries will be cared for at other hospitals in the Mount Sinai Health System. Finally, for patients living in Brooklyn, we are exploring hospital partnerships to open a new Mount Sinai Obstetrics Center in Brooklyn.

Will this improve patient access?

Yes, all of these facilities will be conveniently located throughout the community to better serve each patient in the most appropriate setting, whether in a traditional hospital bed, an outpatient practice, a state-of-the-art surgical facility, or even in the patient’s home. $500 million is our initial investment to develop Mount Sinai Downtown into one of the most innovative and accessible health care systems in the country.

What is the plan for deliveries?

MSBI physicians will continue to provide obstetrics and gynecology services in our physician practices. We will offer women’s cancer services, diagnostic services, and same day surgery. For our expectant mothers, when it comes time to deliver, we have delivery suites and operating rooms available at Mount Sinai West and Mount Sinai Hospital (with expanded capacity). Additionally, roughly half of women delivering babies at MSBI are Brooklyn residents. We are exploring hospital partnerships to open a new Mount Sinai Obstetrics Center in Brooklyn.

ENHANCED DOWNTOWN FACILITIES:

What is the plan for New York Eye & Ear Infirmary (NYEE)?

The downtown plan includes a significant investment in and modernization of the NYEE campus that will advance its national and international reputation for leading-edge patient care in ophthalmology and otolaryngology (ENT) as the hospital approaches its centennial in 2020. With the completion of a successful philanthropic effort, the modernization plans will help enhance and support its top-ranked residency and fellowship training programs. The new MSBI hospital will allow for the reopening of NYEE Urgent Care and its New York Metropolitan Eye Trauma Center, which was originally dedicated in January 1986 by Mayor Edward Koch.

What is the plan for Cancer Care and Treatment? Mount Sinai plans to expand and enhance cancer services downtown and across the system. 95 percent of cancer care takes place in an ambulatory setting and we need to provide our patients with excellent accessibility and quality. Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s Comprehensive Cancer Center West, on 15th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues, is being renovated and will include an expanded surgical program, as well as additional women’s health and primary care services.

What is happening at Phillips Ambulatory Care Center (PACC)?

Mount Sinai will also be making a substantial investment in the PACC on Union Square, where renovations are already under way. At 275,000 square feet, PACC is New York’s largest freestanding ambulatory care center in New York. It currently houses a full range of multispecialty services, including a state-of-the-art same day surgery center, radiology, surgical and medical specialties, pediatrics and obstetrics. PACC’s services will be expanded to include endoscopy and additional medical and surgical specialty services. Same day surgery will include 24/7 services for extended recovery. By early 2017, the site will also house a comprehensive urgent care center with weekend and evening hours.

Is Mount Sinai still committed to Behavioral Health?

Absolutely. The behavioral health facility at MSBI’s Bernstein Pavilion, as part of the Behavioral Health Institute, will receive a substantial capital investment, and will be expanded and upgraded. It will continue to house integrated inpatient, ambulatory and emergency services, as well as a new intensive outpatient behavioral health program. We will have more than 150 behavioral health beds as part of the system.

What are Mount Sinai Downtown sites?

1. Mount Sinai Downtown Beth Israel Hospital 2. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai (NYEE), 310 East 14th Street 3. Phillips Ambulatory Care Center, 10 Union Square East 4. Cancer Center West, 325 West 15th Street 5. MSBI Bernstein Pavilion, 10 Nathan D Perlman Place 6. NYEE of Tribeca, 77 Worth Street 7. 309 West 23rd Street 8. 275 Eighth Avenue 9. 275 Seventh Avenue 10. 55 East 34th Street 11. 230 West 17th Street 12. 147 East 26th Street 13. 222 West 14th Street 14. 380 Second Avenue 15. 52 West Eighth Street 16. 94 East First Street 17. 168 Centre Street 18. 255 Greenwich Street 19. 429-435 Second Avenue 20. 26 Avenue A 21. Gouverneur Clinic

EMPLOYEES:

How many people are losing their jobs? What is the timeline and process?

Mount Sinai is the largest private employer in New York City and, on average, hires approximately 2,000 people per year. It has committed to retraining and placing as many of the MSBI employees within the Mount Sinai Health System as possible. The few who cannot be placed will receive help finding alternate employment. All union employees affected by the transformation will be offered other union opportunities at equal pay. Additionally, as clinical programs are reconfigured, Mount Sinai will accommodate and place all potentially displaced physicians-in-training within one of its highly ranked programs.

1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, which represents over 4,000 nurses and caregivers at MSBI, is fully supportive of the transformation plan.

FUTURE OF EXISTING PROPERTIES:

Of the buildings now part of the MSBI campus, which will remain?

Once these various expansions and relocations are completed over the next several years, we expect that a portion of the MSBI property (except for the Bernstein Building) will be sold. All net proceeds from the sales will be invested back into the Mount Sinai Downtown campus to enhance services and further our mission.

Mount Sinai is a strong supporter of affordable housing development; if the site is purchased by a developer, an appropriate mix of units will be determined by the purchaser, in consultation with the Mayor, City Council, the Manhattan Borough President, the Community Boards and the Downtown community.

What are you going to do with the proceeds from the sale of the MSBI property?

All net proceeds from the sales will be invested back into the Mount Sinai Downtown campus. In addition to the construction of the new hospital and ED on 14th Street, this investment will allow us to expand Behavioral Health services, expand and make significant upgrades to the Phillips Ambulatory Care Center, other ambulatory services and physician practices all across downtown as well as provide major upgrades to the MSBI Cancer Center West.