Mount Sinai Creates Transformational New Model of Behavioral Health Care With New State-of-the-Art $140 Million Center

NEW YORK, June 08, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mount Sinai Health System today hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the newly constructed Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center, located at 45 Rivington Street in Lower Manhattan. Click here to watch a video and learn more about the new Center.

The $140 million facility—believed to be the largest private investment in mental health care in New York State history—will transform behavioral health care in New York City by serving as a comprehensive “one-stop shop” for mental health care, substance use treatment, and primary care.

Mount Sinai leaders were joined at the event by Ann Marie T. Sullivan, MD, Commissioner of the New York State Office of Mental Health (OMH); Zoraida Diaz, Downstate District Director, Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS); Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine; and New York City Council Members Carlina Rivera and Christopher Marte, among others.

“We believe everyone should have access to the care they need in a setting that is convenient, supportive, and purpose-built—and that is exactly what the Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center provides for New Yorkers," said Kenneth L. Davis, MD, Chief Executive Officer of the Mount Sinai Health System. “This Center brings our existing behavioral health offerings downtown together and expands our services, ensuring our patients have the high-quality care they deserve, directly in the communities where they live and work.”

“We are immensely proud to open the Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center, which represents a monumental step forward for both behavioral health care and health innovation in New York City,” said Dennis S. Charney, MD, Anne and Joel Ehrenkranz Dean of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and President for Academic Affairs of the Mount Sinai Health System. “This new facility will help change the lives of thousands of patients and introduce a new model of comprehensive care that will improve the entire field of behavioral health for decades to come.”

The new center features a robust, integrated continuum of behavioral health services all under one roof. In addition to inpatient care, it will provide critically needed intensive outpatient and crisis services, including a Partial Hospitalization Program, an Intensive Outpatient Program, and one of New York State’s first Intensive Crisis Residences. The Intensive Crisis Residence is a short-term therapeutic residence in a home-like setting for people experiencing acute mental health crises that are not severe enough to require hospitalization. It can also serve as a step-down from an acute hospital stay to help patients transition more safely back into the community. At the new center, general outpatient mental health and substance use disorder treatment services are integrated with primary care services, providing seamless access and comprehensive care for our communities’ overall health needs.

In addition, the Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center will serve as a hub for innovation, continually expanding and improving behavioral health services available in New York City. By bringing these services under one roof and adding critical new programs, this center will offer a full continuum of care, an integrated process to coordinate care, and a seamless system to access other specialized behavioral health services across the Mount Sinai Health System.

“This new facility will address some of the critical gaps in behavioral health services that New Yorkers downtown currently face, giving them access to the care they need when and where they need it,” said Grant Mitchell, MD, Chair of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. “By expanding the services offered at Mount Sinai Beth Israel, this new behavioral health center will ensure we continue to provide the excellent care our patients deserve.”

Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center’s transformation of the current system for behavioral health treatment goes hand in hand with basic and clinical research. The new center is part of Mount Sinai’s Department of Psychiatry, a national leader in basic and clinical research with $59 million in grant funding in 2022, more than 40 labs, 130 research faculty members, and 15 major research centers. All patients of the Center will have the opportunity to participate in research and clinical trials that contribute to the advancement of psychiatric knowledge and care. These trials provide early and exclusive access to innovative therapeutic approaches that could have beneficial, life-changing outcomes. 

“The facility means dedicated space and resources for the Department of Psychiatry and behavioral health across the Health System,” says René S. Kahn, MD, PhD, Esther and Joseph Klingenstein Professor of Psychiatry at Icahn Mount Sinai and Chair of Psychiatry for the Mount Sinai Health System. “That means we can focus our extensive academic, clinical, and training expertise on developing a research program, delivering quality care to our patients, and launching new programs and approaches for treatment.” 

A key tenet of the Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center is a commitment to treat all patients and families with dignity, compassion, and respect. This commitment to providing an outstanding patient experience extends to the warm, healing environment created inside the building. The tall ceilings, abundant natural light, artwork, and outdoor courtyard are designed to create a sense of peace and calm. Welcome rooms, recovery areas, and therapy spaces facilitate dignity and wellness for patients.

“The new Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center is a welcome addition to New York’s behavioral healthcare system. In addition to New York City’s first Intensive Crisis Residence, the Center will also improve access to a wide range of inpatient and outpatient services and integrate primary care into mental health and substance use treatments, all in one location. Congratulations to Mount Sinai for this important addition to their health care system,” said Dr. Sullivan, the OMH Commissioner.

“This new facility removes barriers to critical services and ensures that individuals seeking treatment have one-stop access to person-centered comprehensive services in a comfortable, supportive environment,” said Chinazo Cunningham, MD, Commissioner of OASAS. “We are committed to developing and strengthening integrated models of care to help improve outcomes across the populations we serve."

The Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center is part of Mount Sinai’s innovative effort to transform care downtown. To date, Mount Sinai has invested more than $1 billion in its downtown network that includes building a network of 20 outpatient and ambulatory care facilities below 34^th Street to provide comprehensive care throughout downtown Manhattan.  

Lendlease provided construction management services for the renovation of the late-1800s building into the new Mount Sinai-Behavioral Health Center.

About the Mount Sinai Health System
Mount Sinai Health System is one of the largest academic medical systems in the New York metro area, with more than 43,000 employees working across eight hospitals, over 400 outpatient practices, nearly 300 labs, a school of nursing, and a leading school of medicine and graduate education. Mount Sinai advanced health for all people, everywhere, by taking on the most complex health care challenges of our time — discovering and applying new scientific learning and knowledge; developing safer, more effective treatments; educating the next generation of medical leaders and innovators; and supporting local communities by delivering high-quality care to all who need it.

Through the integration of its hospitals, labs, and schools, Mount Sinai offers comprehensive health care solutions from birth through geriatrics, leveraging innovative approaches such as artificial intelligence and informatics while keeping patients’ medical and emotional needs at the center of all treatment. The Health System includes approximately 7,300 primary and specialty care physicians; 13 joint-venture outpatient surgery centers throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, Long Island, and Florida; and more than 30 affiliated community health centers. We are consistently ranked by U.S. News & World Report's Best Hospitals, receiving high "Honor Roll" status, and are highly ranked: No. 1 in Geriatrics and top 20 in Cardiology/Heart Surgery, Diabetes/Endocrinology, Gastroenterology/GI Surgery, Neurology/Neurosurgery, Orthopedics, Pulmonology/Lung Surgery, Rehabilitation, and Urology. New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai is ranked No. 12 in Ophthalmology. U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals” ranks Mount Sinai Kravis Children's Hospital among the country’s best in several pediatric specialties.
For more information, visit https://www.mountsinai.org or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Media Contact: Elizabeth Dowling
Mount Sinai Press Office
347-541-0212
[email protected]

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/e7c8a587-8c44-40dd-9805-4d3178c4a6b6

The photo is also available at Newscom, www.newscom.com, and via AP PhotoExpress.