Several hospitals are scaling back inpatient services or ending inpatient care.
Below are nine hospitals that announced plans to scale back or end inpatient care since November.
1. Galesburg (Ill.) Cottage Hospital closed Jan. 8 and its workers were told via email that their employment was terminated. Hospital CEO Sanjay Sharma, PhD, said the hospital shut down due to CMS' decision to terminate the facility's Medicare contract. Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare signed a letter of intent in February to buy the real estate, medical equipment and other assets of Galesburg Cottage Hospital. OSF said it expects the deal to close this spring, but it does not plan to offer inpatient care at the facility.
2. Mercyhealth applied to end inpatient care at Javon Bea Hospital-Rockton in Rockford, Ill. The system plans to transition the hospital into an outpatient-only facility. The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board is reviewing the application and will provide more details at a March 15 meeting.
3. 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.
4. Henrico Doctors' Hospital in Richmond, Va., will end pediatric inpatient services April 1. The hospital attributed the decision in part to a low number of patients. The hospital said it's seeing an increased demand for adult inpatient medical and surgical care. Although the pediatric units are closing, the hospital will continue to provide emergency medical care to children via designated emergency room space.
5. West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health closed Jennersville Hospital in West Grove, Pa., on Dec. 31, ending all services including inpatient care. Jennersville Hospital is the only hospital in Pennsylvania that closed last year.
6. Tower Health closed Brandywine Hospital in Coatesville, Pa., on Jan. 31. As a result of the closure, 534 employees were laid off Feb. 7, according to a notice filed with state regulators.
7. Ascension St. John Medical Center plans to close its pediatric intensive care and general pediatric inpatient care unit at the end of April. The Tulsa, Okla.-based hospital said the decision was based on a community needs assessment and analysis of services offered in the community. Pediatric ambulatory, surgical and neonatal ICU services will not be affected, the hospital said.
8. Community Hospital Long Beach (Calif.) shut down and surrendered its acute care license to the state in December, according to the Long Beach Post. The hospital's owner is planning to transition the facility into a behavioral health and wellness campus.
9. One of 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 transitioned in November to a new hospital Nashville-based HCA opened in Davie, Fla., about six miles away. Leaders said focusing all resources on the new hospital, HCA Florida University Hospital, will allow HCA to serve more patients throughout Broward County.