Carmel, N.Y.-based Putnam Hospital, a Nuvance Health affiliate, will suspend services at its birthing center because its physician provider of labor and delivery services is leaving, the hospital's president, Mark Hirko, MD, confirmed in a statement shared with Becker's.
On Jan. 11, CareMount Medical's OB-GYN physicians notified Putnam Hospital that they will stop performing deliveries at the facility, effective March 1, according to the statement.
Dr. Hirko said CareMount Medical is the sole physician provider of labor and delivery services at Putnam Hospital, meaning the hospital must temporarily suspend labor and delivery services as the hospital recruits new physicians. Three CareMount Medical physicians will continue to provide gynecological surgery at Putnam Hospital, and they will also continue providing care from their offices.
"Nuvance Health is dedicated to continuing to provide labor and delivery services at Putnam Hospital, and this suspension will be temporary," Dr. Hirko said. "Affected staff have been notified, and there is no planned reduction in force as a result of this suspension."
CareMount said the decision to leave Putnam Hospital is "in the interest of providing the most comprehensive care to patients in an optimal environment," according to the Times Union. The newspaper reported that CareMount will transition its labor and delivery services to Northwell Health's Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, N.Y., where five times more babies were born last year compared to Putnam hospital, and where there is a neonatal intensive care unit.
Meanwhile, Putnam Hospital said it is working with state officials on approval of the birthing unit closure and is making efforts to ensure the hospital can resume deliveries as soon as possible.