From reimbursement landscape challenges to dwindling patient volumes, many factors lead hospitals to shut down. In the past year, financial damage linked to the COVID-19 pandemic has put many hospitals in a fragile financial position and forced at least one to close.
Below are 11 hospitals that have closed or announced plans to close in the past year.
1. West Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health announced in September that it plans to close its hospital in Jennersville, Pa., Jan. 1. The hospital closure is part of a financial stabilization plan, which also includes selling a hospital and more than a dozen urgent care centers.
2. MercyOne Oakland (Neb.) Medical Center closed July 1 after years of declining inpatient and emergency department volumes. While inpatient and emergency services ended, clinics at MercyOne Oakland and its affiliate, Lyons (Neb.) Family Medicine, remain open.
3. Community HealthCare System-St. Marys (Kan.) closed in June, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. The Sheps Center defines a hospital closure as the cessation in the provision of inpatient services. The hospital's clinic remains open, and physical, occupational and speech therapy, X-ray, laboratory and other services are available.
4. Cancer Treatment Centers of America closed its hospital in Tulsa, Okla., in May. The hospital attributed the closure to patient access pressures and insurance limitations in the local market. About 400 employees were affected by the closure.
5. Olympia Medical Center, a 204-bed hospital in Los Angeles, closed March 31. Irvine, Calif-based Alecto Healthcare Services, a private company, sold the hospital in January to UCLA Health.
6. Jellico (Tenn.) Medical Center closed March 1, days after the city council voted to send a contract termination notice to the hospital's operator, Rennova Health. Rennova management said the city council's contract termination decision left the company with no option but to close the hospital.
7. Heights Hospital in Houston closed Jan. 18 after its management failed to pay rent. The hospital was once an acute care facility but was offering outpatient and specialty care when it closed. Heights Hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in June.
8. Kansas City, Mo.-based Saint Luke's Health System closed two community hospitals in Overland Park, Kan., on Dec. 30. "Two of our locations have seen lower patient volumes since opening, and as we look at ways to provide care while operating as efficiently as possible during this challenging time, we have made the decision to close these two locations," Bobby Olm-Shipman, Saint Luke's South and East Region CEO, said while announcing the closure of the locations in October.
9. Perry Community Hospital in Linden, Tenn., laid off its workers and closed Nov. 27, according to a notice filed with the state Dec. 8.
10. Northridge Medical Center, a 90-bed hospital in Commerce, Ga., closed Oct. 31, 2020. The hospital closed less than seven years after opening its doors on Jan. 1, 2014. It cited a decline in patient volume as the reason for the closure. Hospital leaders said all other options were explored before deciding to shut down Northridge Medical Center.
11. Southwest Georgia Regional Medical Center in Cuthbert closed Oct. 22, 2020. The 25-bed critical access hospital announced plans in July 2020 to close. The hospital closed due to financial strain worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.