Several healthcare organizations have closed medical departments or ended services at facilities to shore up finances, focus on more in-demand services or address staffing shortages.
Below are 13 closures or service endings announced, advanced or finalized in the last two months, as reported on by Becker's Hospital Review.
1. Mercyhealth applies to end inpatient care at Illinois hospital
Mercyhealth, which has seven hospitals in Wisconsin and Illinois, filed an application with the Illinois Health and Services Review Board to end inpatient services at Javon Bea Hospital-Rockton next year.
2. New York hospital temporarily closes ED over staffing shortages
Mount Sinai South Nassau closed the freestanding Long Beach (N.Y.) Emergency Department for five days because of nursing staff shortages caused by the state's COVID-19 vaccination mandate. The facility was closed on Nov. 22 and reopened Nov. 26, according to the Long Island Press.
3. St. Luke's opens 80-room hospital, closes ED at nearby campus
Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke's University Health System on Nov. 20 opened its St. Luke's Carbon Campus hospital in Leighton, Pa. The same day, the hospital closed its emergency room at St. Luke's Lehighton, which houses its inpatient behavioral health unit, outpatient services, nursing facility and patient acute rehabilitation center.
4. Tower Health to temporarily close urgent care centers on Sundays
West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health will temporarily close its urgent care centers on Sundays starting Nov. 28 because of staffing shortages.
5. ED service to remain closed at Catholic Health Orchard Park center amid staffing shortages
Catholic Health's Mercy Hospital of Buffalo (N.Y.) will keep the emergency department at the Mercy Ambulatory Care Center in Orchard Park, N.Y., closed for the next several weeks, the health system announced Nov. 18.
6. California hospital expedites ED closure plan
Community Hospital Long Beach (Calif.) is shutting down its emergency department earlier than planned because of staffing shortages, the hospital announced Nov. 16.
7. 128-bed Florida hospital to end obstetrics, delivery services
Bayfront Health Seven Rivers, a 128-bed hospital in Crystal River, Fla., will end obstetrical and newborn services and close its labor and delivery unit Feb. 11, 2022.
8. Georgia hospital to end gynecologic oncology services
St. Francis-Emory Healthcare in Columbus, Ga., will end gynecologic oncology services in January 2022.
9. Maine hospital to close neonatal ICU after staff resign over vaccination mandate
Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, part of Central Maine Healthcare, will close its neonatal intensive care unit because of staff resignations over the state's COVID-19 vaccination mandate.
10. New York hospital closes 124 beds amid nursing shortage
Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse, N.Y., has temporarily closed 124 beds because of a nursing shortage.
11. Allina Health to close maternity unit at Minnesota hospital
Minneapolis-based Allina Health has made the decision to move its labor and delivery services from Regina Hospital in Hastings, Minn., to United Hospital and Children's Minnesota, both based in St. Paul, effective Feb. 3, 2022.
12. Hartford HealthCare seeks to permanently close obstetrics unit at Windham Hospital
Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare is seeking approval to permanently close its maternity ward at Windham (Conn.) Hospital.
13. HCA ceases inpatient care at Florida hospital
One of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare's hospitals in Plantation, Fla., stopped providing inpatient care and converted to a freestanding emergency room operating under the direction of a nearby medical center. Physicians and other employees of the hospital in Plantation transitioned to a new hospital the company opened in Davie, Fla., about six miles away, on Nov. 15.