The State Department of Health has returned Mount Sinai Beth Israel’s closure plan, calling it incomplete and citing inconsistencies in their submission. This is a major win for our community, which has for months been raising the alarm about the negative effects this planned closure would have on access to healthcare in Lower Manhattan. While this is not an outright rejection of the plan, it brings more accountability to one of the biggest health systems in New York. We will continue working to protect health care access for over 400,000 New Yorkers in Lower Manhattan.