A number of healthcare organizations have recently closed medical departments or ended services at facilities to shore up finances, focus on more in-demand services or address staffing shortages.
Here are 20 department closures or services ending, announced, advanced or finalized that Becker's has reported since March 1:
1. Atmore (Ala.) Community Hospital is closing its surgery department June 1 due to low patient volumes, inflating costs, and low reimbursement rates, including lack of Medicaid expansion.
2. A south Alabama hospital that was at the center of a state Supreme Court ruling on the status of frozen embryos said it would no longer provide in vitro fertilization treatments after this year. In a statement shared with Becker's, a spokesperson for Mobile, Ala.-based Infirmary Health hospital system said Infirmary Health has temporarily resumed IVF treatments at the hospital but will end the services after Dec. 31 "in light of litigation concerns surrounding IVF therapy."
3. Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica and Cleveland-based MetroHealth are closing their joint venture skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility at MetroHealth's Old Brooklyn Medical Center in Cleveland. New patients stopped being admitted to the skilled nursing facility April 1, with plans to close by early summer once existing patients have been transferred or released.
4. Regional Medical Center Health System said on March 22 it plans to end inpatient services at Stringfellow Memorial Hospital in Anniston, Ala., and transition the emergency department to its main hospital campus, which is about a mile away.
5. Mee Memorial Hospital in King City, Calif., has started transitioning patients to another dialysis clinic as it plans to close its dialysis center in June. The hospital's dialysis center opened in 1995, and officials said it is in need of renovations and equipment upgrades amid advancements in dialysis services.
6. Beginning April 1, Seton Medical Center Coastside in Moss Beach, Calif., will temporarily close while structural repairs caused by storm damage are made. Officials with the facility, which is owned by Alhambra, Calif.-based AHMC Healthcare, told local news outlets it will be closed for six to nine months.
7. Mercy Health-Fairfield (Ohio) Hospital, part of Cincinnati-based Bon Secours Mercy Health, is closing its labor and delivery services and transferring them to Mercy Health-Anderson Hospital and Mercy Health-West Hospital, both in Cincinnati, effective May 1.
8. Columbia City, Ind.-based Parkview Whitley Hospital, part of Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Parkview Health, is closing its family birthing center and relocating it to the new Warsaw, Ind.-based Parkview Kosciusko Hospital, tentatively scheduled for Sept. 1.
9. West Monroe, La.-based Glenwood Regional Medical Center, part of financially troubled Dallas-based Steward Health Care, closed its inpatient rehabilitation unit March 20.
10. Wahiawa (Hawaii) General Hospital temporarily closed its emergency department, effective March 18, due to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning issues. The closure will allow the hospital to fix its HVAC system, with a work completion timeline unclear.
11. Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health is temporarily shuttering its pharmacy on Eastern Michigan University's campus in Ypsilanti. The closure is expected to last from March 22 to late summer amid supply and staffing issues. The pharmacy has had ongoing operational issues.
12. Renovo, Pa.-based Bucktail Medical Center is closing its long-term care facility May 14. CEO Laura Murnyack, BSN, RN, said officials explored options to keep the facility open, but "its increasing costs severely undermine Bucktail's fiscal position."
13. Adventist Health Tulare (Calif.) is pausing obstetrics services June 6 for an unspecified amount of time. Hospital officials said they are working to recruit providers to eventually reopen the department. The planned closure comes after year-over-year births at the hospital declined 60%.
14. Daviess Community Hospital in Washington, Ind., will close its inpatient behavioral health unit May 1 as it looks to put more resources into outpatient mental health services.
15. Adventist Health Tillamook (Ore.) is closing three medical offices by April 12 after yearslong efforts to recruit additional qualified medical providers into the rural communities.
16. Scripps Mercy Chula Vista (Calif.) hospital, part of San Diego-based Scripps Health, is transferring its obstetrics care services and Rady Children's neonatal intensive care unit to its Scripps Mercy Hospital San Diego campus. The decision to consolidate the obstetrics unit with Scripps Mercy San Diego, which will take three to four months to transition, is designed to allow room for adult medical and surgical patients in need of a bed at the Chula Vista hospital,
17. Northampton, Mass.-based Cooley Dickinson Hospital, part of Somerville, Mass.-based Mass General Brigham, is closing its South Deerfield, Mass.-based Sugarloaf Pediatrics practice and transitioning services to Amherst, Mass.-based Northampton Area Pediatrics, effective July 1.
18. New York City-based Mount Sinai Health's Beth Israel campus ended its stroke and cardiac services March 10 due to voluntary staff departures since the planned closure of the hospital was shared in September.
19. Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic Health System announced March 1 that it will not reopen its clinic in Janesville, Minn.
20. Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System closed urgent care services at its Marshfield Medical Center-Weston (Wis.) location, effective March 8.