Several hospitals are scaling back inpatient services or ending inpatient care.
- Boston-based Tufts Children's Hospital is closing its pediatric inpatient units in July to convert its 41 pediatric inpatient beds to adult ICU and medical/surgical beds. Tufts will refer children to Boston Children's Hospital for care. Nearly 100 nurses will be affected by the closure of the pediatric beds. All of the nurses have either found a new position within the Tufts Medicine system or at Boston Children's Hospital or are taking early retirement, a Tufts Medical Center spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review in May.
- In Georgia, Marietta-based Wellstar Health System closed the emergency department and ended inpatient care at Atlanta Medical Center South on May 6. The hospital will be converted into an outpatient site, providing primary and rehabilitative care. Inpatient services will be consolidated to Atlanta Medical Center's main campus, Wellstar said.
- Tampa, Fla.-based Shriners Hospitals for Children is ending inpatient care at its campus in Springfield, Mass. The hospital gave the Massachusetts Department of Public Health a 120-day notice of the plan on March 31.
- Citing staff shortages and financial woes, Kootenai Health in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, is scaling back some behavioral health services. The health system is closing its inpatient addiction recovery program and outpatient psychiatry practice. The outpatient practice is slated to close by July 1.
- Pueblo, Colo.-based Parkview Health System will close its 25-bed inpatient adult psychiatric unit at Parkview Medical Center because of a decline in patients, The Pueblo Chieftain reported May 17.