10 hospitals closing departments or ending services

repost from Beckers Hospital Review new piece.

10 hospitals closing departments or ending services
Andrew Cass - Friday, May 31st, 2024 BHR News

A number of healthcare organizations have recently closed medical departments or ended services at facilities to shore up finances, focus on more in-demand services or address staffing shortages.

Photo by Adhy Savala on Empty Hospital Room

Here are 10 department closures or services that are ending or have been announced, advanced or finalized that Becker's reported in May:

1. University of Missouri Health Care Women's Hospital in Columbia, Mo., shared plans to permanently close its emergency room on June 10. MU Health Care's University Hospital in Columbia will provide a centralized ER with a separate ER for children following the closure.

2. Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey (Pa.) Medical Center will discontinue both its kidney and liver transplant programs after both were placed on a voluntary pause. The hospital paused its liver transplant program in late April to receive a performance review from the United Network of Organ Sharing representatives. Penn State Health then paused the hospital's kidney transplant program for two weeks after holding a meeting with UNOS in mid-May.

3. Within 90 days, Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White will close its pharmacy in Temple, Texas, a spokesperson confirmed with Becker's May 20. The spokesperson said the location has been underutilized and the health system is working with current patients to transition their prescriptions to one of five Baylor Scott & White pharmacies in the area. Current employees of the Temple pharmacy have been offered positions at the system's nearby locations.

4. Chicago-based Howard Brown Health shared plans to close its Chicago clinics this fall due to ongoing financial difficulties, the departure of providers at each location and commercial lease agreements coming to an end at both clinics. Diversey clinic will close Aug. 31 and Thresholds South clinic will shut down on Sept. 30.

5. Kansas City, Kan.-based Providence Medical Center, part of Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare, plans to close its labor and delivery services, effective June 30, due to a declining rate of labor and delivery patients at the hospital.

6. Dallas-based Baylor Scott & White Health and Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based-Select Medical are closing a co-owned rehabilitation clinic in Flower Mound, Texas, resulting in the termination of 78 employees. The Baylor Scott & White Institute for Rehabilitation — Home Health facility will close on or about June 30.

7. Bluffton (Ind.) Regional Medical Center and Dukes Memorial Hospital in Peru, Ind., both part of Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Lutheran Health Network, shared plans to end their inpatient labor and delivery services due to decreased birth rates. Bluffton Regional Medical Center ended its labor and delivery services May 23 and Dukes Memorial Hospital will end its services June 13.

8. The labor and delivery unit at Demopolis, Ala.-based Whitfield Regional Hospital will pause until Sept. 1 following its primary provider taking extended leave with no other providers readily available to provide 24/7 service to the unit.

9. Dignity Health's St. Mary Medical Center in Long Beach, Calif., will close its pediatric unit, effective July 1. The decision comes after an evaluation of patient volumes and community needs for pediatric services.

10. McCurtain Memorial Urgent Care - Hochatown near Broken Bow, Okla., closed after it had "struggled since its inception" and was mainly used by tourists visiting the town of Hochatown, which locals tend to avoid due to "extreme traffic congestion," Brian Whitfield, president and CEO of Idabel, Okla.-based McCurtain Memorial Hospital, said.


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