Report: Closing Interfaith Will Push Psych Beds in Brooklyn Over Capacity

A new report released today by Public Advocate Bill de Blasio warns that if Interfaith Medical Center closes next month, it will eliminate service for tens of thousands of psychiatric patients and flood Brooklyn’s adjoining facilities.

Currently, Interfaith, slated to be closed in the coming months for financial reasons, is Brooklyn’s largest private provider of psychiatric care, with 67,000 patients receiving out-patient care and 1,750 in-patient hospitalizations each year. 

The report, entitled “Tearing Brooklyn’s Safety Net,” shows that losing those vital psych services would push remaining hospitals across Brooklyn to 107 percent capacity—a dangerous deficit.

De Blasio, who is running for mayor, calls the pending closure “haphazard,” one that strips neighborhoods of clinics and emergency rooms.

“Here at Interfaith, we could lose the single biggest private provider of psychiatric care in all of Brooklyn. There’s no contingency here, and Brooklynites will pay the price if this shutdown goes forward,” said de Blasio. “We will not let that happen.”