Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System is more than doubling the labor and delivery beds at its Marshfield Medical Center-Eau Claire (Wis.) to aid community needs amid recent hospital closures.
The hospital's obstetrics unit will expand from eight beds to 20 beds, allowing for an additional 550 yearly births if needed. The hospital is also surveying the need level for added staff, technology, and timing for operating the expanded unit, according to a Feb. 9 Marshfield Clinic Health System news release.
Though the release does not directly mention the "hospital closures" in question, the Marshfield Medical Center's expansion efforts come amid closure plans for two Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System hospitals, Eau Claire, Wis.-based Sacred Heart Hospital and Chippewa Falls, Wis.-based St. Joseph's Hospital, and the regional health centers it operates with Green Bay, Wis.-based Prevea Health.
"As other hospitals and health systems are making difficult decisions, we have determined the steps we can take to increase delivery and labor beds for expectant mothers and their families," Brad Groseth, president of MMC-Eau Claire, said in the release.
Mr. Groseth said the hospital is wrapping up plans for an expected patient volume increase, particularly with emergency and urgent care. Recruitment efforts for open hospital positions have kicked off, with more job fairs to be scheduled.
MMC-Eau Claire's midwifery team has also brought back its services to Marshfield Clinic Chippewa Falls (Wis.) Center, the release said.
"Rural healthcare in Wisconsin is at risk without help resolving the funding inadequacies with government-assisted healthcare," Brian Hoerneman, MD, interim CEO of Marshfield Clinic Health System, said in the release. "This presents a difficult challenge for a rural health system as the majority of patients admitted to our hospitals have a governmental payor source."