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A plan from Continuum Health Partners would give the group control over the hospital and that Continuum would close all acute care units, including inpatient beds and surgical services within two to three months, according to the New York Post.

The facility would eventually be converted to a community health center. Trauma and emergency services would be scaled back.

Continuum Health Partners would not release details on the proposal, but said in a statement Tuesday, "Our proposal to the St. Vincent Board, submitted at its request, was intended as an alternative to financial liquidation. If St. Vincent is able to continue to meet its mission on its own, they have our full support."

Continuum also operates Beth Israel, St. Luke's and Roosevelt Hospitals.

In a statement, St. Vincent's CEO Henry Amoroso did not confirm the reported plan, but said that eight state budget cuts in the last two years affected the hospital's finances.

He also said the hospital would work "continue to work with the state as well as well as other healthcare providers so we can emerge as a stronger healthcare system for the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who we treat each and every year."

In turn, State Health Department officials said in a statement that they had "repeatedly discussed with St. Vincent’s management and its Board of Directors that in order to continue their health care services and public health programs, they need to restructure their programs."

Elected officials gathered outside the hospital early Tuesday afternoon to protest the closing plans.

"This time, we're not going to go quietly. We will not lose St. Vincent's," said Council Speaker Christine Quinn. "We believe there are other quality health care alternatives out there to help St. Vincent's restructure and stabilize. The west side of Manhattan cannot survive without an acute care hospital, without a hospital with an emergency room in Greenwich Village."

Other officials are concerned about the Continuum deal, as State Health Commissioner Richard Daines was a former Continuum executive.

"Back in 2007, when [Daines] was proposed to be health commissioner, people were very concerned that his relationship with Continuum would give them a benefit when they were dealing with hospital closures, and Continuum did quite well," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. "So I'm not suggesting there's an absolute conflict [in interest], but before any decision is made, we clearly have to have a vetting of what has transpired."

Doctors and patients also say the hospital is too important to the community to close.

"There were 60,000 ER visits, including a large portion of level-one traumas,” said Dr. Michael Wayne, a surgeon at the hospital. “There were over 20,000 surgeries performed here last year, so that's a large volume to assume anywhere."

"They saved my husband's life about two years ago, if they weren't here that wouldn't have happened,” said one local resident. “I doubt if a community center would have been able to have the same emergency room facility that made the difference.”

“I think it's absurd to replace a key hospital in the heart of the city,” said another. “I mean St. Vincent's was crucial to the rescue, as a lot of people know, during the tragedy of 9/11.”

“I don't know the finances behind it or why, but you know it would be unfortunate to see the hospital go because they also provide a lot of outreach and a lot of other community-type services which are uniquely the hallmark of a religious hospital,” said a third.

When asked whether he knew about the Continuum deal, the mayor said that residents' access to health care is his main concern.

"The most important thing is that you can get medical care as instantly as you can if you were having a heart attack or an accident or something, and that's where the city's going to focus its efforts," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg. "We have to see how St. Vincent's works it out, but I'm concerned about response times for ambulances."

St. Vincent's has struggled financially, and the proposal is backed by GE Capital and TD Bank, which hold a combined $300 million in debt on the 160-year-old hospital.

Last month, the hospital lied off 180 of its 300 employees.

The Greenwich Village facility is the city's only-remaining Catholic hospital. Plans were approved in July for an $800 million renovation of the hospital.

The State Health Department said today Tuesday "any viable proposal" about St. Vincent's would need to be debated publicly by the Public Health Council.