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 seven permanent closures or service endings announced, advanced or finalized in the last two months, as reported by Becker's Hospital Review.
1. Holy Cross Health to close maternity ward in March
Holy Cross Health in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., will permanently close its labor and delivery unit March 14.
2. Crozer Health consolidates OB services at Pennsylvania hospital
Springfield, Pa.-based Crozer Health is moving the inpatient obstetric unit at Drexel Hill, Pa.-based Delaware County Memorial Hospital to Crozer-Chester Medical Center in Upland, Pa., effective Jan. 21.
3. Pennsylvania hospital closes: 5 things to know
Tower Health closed Jennersville Hospital in West Grove, Pa., on Dec. 31. The system will shutter a second hospital by the end of January.
4. Indiana hospital to close OB department
Beginning in mid-January, maternity services will no longer be available at Pulaski Memorial Hospital in Winamac, Ind.
5. Northwestern Medicine to end maternity services at Illinois hospital
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board approved Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine's application to close the obstetrics and gynecology department at its hospital in McHenry, Ill.
6. Detroit Medical Center closes kidney transplant program
The Detroit Medical Center has ended its kidney transplant program, the hospital confirmed to Becker's on Dec. 6.
7. 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 this year. There is a meeting scheduled for Jan. 26 on its closure, according to WREX.