From reimbursement landscape challenges to dwindling patient volumes, many factors lead hospitals to close.
Here are 22 hospitals that closed since Jan. 1, listed by state:
Alabama
1. Georgiana (Ala.) Medical Center closed March 8. Ivy Creek Healthcare in Georgiana, which owns the hospital, cited growing costs and cuts to reimbursement as the reasons for the closure.
Alaska
2. Sitka (Alaska) Community Hospital closed July 29. After the hospital closed, Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium took over the facility and began offering a variety of services, including a family clinic and long-term care. The former Sitka Community Hospital, which reportedly faced financial challenges, was integrated into Mt. Edgecumbe Medical Center, a 25-bed critical access hospital.
Arkansas
3. North Metro Medical Center in Jacksonville, Ark., closed Aug. 20, leaving local residents without an emergency room. No notice was given before the hospital shut down.
4. De Queen (Ark.) Medical Center filed for bankruptcy in April and closed May 7. The 22-bed hospital, owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, faced financial troubles for months before it shut down. Sevier County (Ark.) leaders originally planned to take over the troubled hospital, but they ultimately decided it was facing too many court judgments and liens to save.
Illinois
5. Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill., closed in August, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. Los Angeles-based Pipeline Health revealed plans to close Westlake Hospital in February, a few weeks after acquiring the 230-bed hospital from Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare.
6. MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island, Ill., suspended all services and discharged all patients in September. Though the hospital has closed its doors to patients, MetroSouth Medical Center's future remains uncertain after the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board postponed a decision on whether to approve the closure Sept. 17. U.S. Rep Bobby Rush, D-Ill., called the non-approved closure "morally wrong and legally reprehensible," and is asking the attorney general's office to "determine what, if any, proper legal action should be taken against the hospital," according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Indiana
7. Kentuckiana Medical Center in Clarksville, Ind., closed April 5. The hospital, which opened in 2009, faced financial losses for years and previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.
Kansas
8. Oswego (Kan.) Community Hospital and its two affiliated clinics closed Feb. 14. A statement from the board announcing the closure said the hospital, owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, wasn't bringing in enough revenue to cover payroll and other expenses. After the abrupt closure, the hospital entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 17.
9. Horton (Kan.) Community Hospital closed March 12. The 25-bed critical access hospital, owned by Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, shut down after struggling to pay utilities and missing payroll for several weeks. The hospital entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 14.
Louisiana
10. Doctors Hospital at Deer Creek in Leesville, La., closed in January, according to the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research. The hospital closed after filing for bankruptcy in October 2018.
Missouri
11. I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs, Mo., closed in February. The hospital, owned by an affiliate of Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS, closed after suspending its license. In March, the hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Ohio
12. Belmont Community Hospital, a 99-bed hospital in Bellaire, Ohio, closed April 5. Hospital officials cited a decline in patient volume as the reason for the closure. "Utilization of BCH has continued to decline despite efforts to offer varying services at the facility," the hospital said in a press release. "The decline has place[d] a financial strain on the BCH that cannot be sustained in the long term."
13. East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry closed Sept. 27. The hospital's president and CEO cited mounting financial losses as one of the factors that forced the hospital to shut down.
Oklahoma
14. Mercy Hospital El Reno (Okla.) closed April 30. St. Louis-based Mercy said it ended its lease of the hospital due to declining inpatient volumes, which caused financial losses. Before the hospital closed, the City of El Reno had already secured a new agreement to ensure local residents would continue to have access to emergency care. Under a lease agreement that took effect May 1, Oklahoma City-based SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital began operating the emergency department of the hospital in El Reno.
Pennsylvania
15. Harrisburg, Pa.-based UPMC Pinnacle closed its hospital in Lancaster, Pa., on Feb. 28. The health system announced plans in December to close UPMC Pinnacle Lancaster and transition inpatient services to another one of its hospitals located about 7 miles away. In a Feb. 15 news release, UPMC Pinnacle President and CEO Philip Guarneschelli said consolidating inpatient services on one campus would make care more convenient for patients.
16. Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia closed in early September. Hahnemann announced in June that it would close Sept. 6. The hospital pushed back the closure date after a bankruptcy judge approved the sale of its residency programs on Sept. 5.
Tennessee
17. Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center closed on June 13. The 85-bed hospital abruptly shut down just one day after its Medicare and Medicaid funding was cut off. In a June 7 statement to the Independent Herald, West Palm Beach, Fla.-based Rennova Health, which owns Jamestown Regional, said mistakes made during the transition to a new billing company in December 2018 led to financial challenges at the hospital.
18. Cumberland River Hospital in Celina, Tenn., closed March 1. In January, officials announced that the hospital was shutting down due to financial challenges. They said Cumberland River Hospital had experienced significant losses in recent years due to declining reimbursements and lower patient volumes.
Texas
19. Chillicothe (Texas) Hospital closed July 22. The critical access hospital shut down after a decline in patient volume due to patients traveling to other hospitals for care. The hospital also experienced decreasing reimbursements.
20. Financial challenges forced Hamlin (Texas) Memorial Hospital to close July 31. Declining patient volume and dwindling reimbursement rates were among the factors that led to the hospital's closure, according to a July 2 announcement from the hospital's board of directors.
Washington, D.C.
21. Washington, D.C.-based Providence Hospital closed April 30 after 158 years of service. In July 2018, St. Louis-based Ascension, which owns Providence, said it was shutting down the hospital and making investments in other types of services, including telehealth, care coordination, home care and community-based behavioral healthcare.
West Virginia
22. Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, W.Va., closed in September. Hospital officials said the "unwanted, yet unavoidable," decision was made due to an unsuccessful search for a strategic partner, lack of interest from potential buyers and a more than $37 million operating loss over the last two years.
More articles on healthcare finance:
9 latest hospital credit rating downgrades
Tenet says bankrupt Pennsylvania hospital owner needs to pay up
Private equity pushes into healthcare: 6 latest deals