Many hospitals and emergency departments have been forced to close in 2024 due to circumstances like high costs and shifts in care needs.
Becker's has reported on 25 hospital and emergency department closures in 2024:
Editor's note: This article was updated Dec. 27 at 3:06 p.m. CT.
1. ShorePoint Health Punta Gorda (Fla.) hospital will remain closed after it sustained significant damage and suspended operations during Hurricanes Helene and Milton in September. Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth signed a definitive agreement to acquire ShorePoint Health Port Charlotte and "certain assets" of Punta Gorda in November. It is unclear if AdventHealth will repair structural damages and resume hospital services at the facility once the deal is finalized.
2. Dallas-based Steward Health Care filed a closure notice for its Sharon (Pa.) Regional Medical Center after Meadville (Pa.) Medical Center withdrew its proposed transaction of the hospital. The notice proposed a Jan. 6 closure date.
3. Bryan, Texas-based CapRock Health System closed its Bryan-based CapRock Hospital and freestanding CapRock 24-Hour Emergency Care center in College Station, Texas, on Dec. 13.
4. St. Louis-based Ascension and its joint venture partner, Emerus Holdings, will close a micro-hospital in Waukesha, Wis., on Jan. 13 and consolidate higher acuity-care services to fewer hospitals in southeast Wisconsin.
5. Dallas-based Steward Health Care filed an Oct. 7 notice of closure for its already nonoperational Norwood (Mass.) Hospital and four satellite facilities.
6. Thomasville (Ala.) Regional Medical Center halted operations indefinitely amid staffing shortages.
7. Modesto, Calif.-based Stainslaus Surgical Hospital ended operations indefinitey Sept. 14 and laid off 160 employees.
8. Hicksville, Ohio-based Community Memorial Hospital permanently closed on Aug. 31 after temporarily shutting down in May due to financial challenges.
9. Des Moines, Iowa-based MercyOne closed its MercyOne Primghar (Iowa) Medical Center on Sept. 27.
10. Steward closed Boston-based Carney Hospital on Aug. 31.
11. Steward also shuttered its Ayer, Mass.-based Nashoba Valley Medical Center on Aug. 31.
12. Norman (Okla.) Regional Health System closed its flagship Norman Regional Hospital and emergency department July 28 and relocating services to another location.
13. Columbia-based University of Missouri Health Care Women's Hospital closed following its transitioning of all services to the new MU Health Care Children's Hospital and Birthing Center.
15. Prairieville (La.) Family Hospital closed April 29 after the Louisiana Department of Health determined that the hospital violated state hospital laws and regulations and revoked its license.
16. Family Hospital at Papillion (Neb.), part of Cedar Park, Texas-based Family Hospital Systems, abruptly shut down in late March.
17. Stoughton, Mass.-based New England Sinai Hospital, a 182-bed rehabilitation hospital owned by Dallas-based Steward Health Care, closed at the end of March. Steward shared plans to close the hospital in early December and cited "chronic low reimbursement rates" for Medicare and Medicaid services.
18. Regional Medical Center Health System is ending inpatient services at Anniston, Ala.-based Stringfellow Memorial Hospital. The hospital's emergency department will transition to its main hospital campus about 1 mile away.
19. Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System closed Chippewa Falls, Wis.-based St. Joseph's Hospital on March 22, a spokesperson for HSHS confirmed with Becker's.
20. HSHS also closed its Eau Claire, Wis.-based Sacred Heart Hospital on March 22. Multiple regional health centers the health system operates in conjunction with Green Bay, Wis.-based Prevea Health were also set to close by April 21.
21. Jellico (Tenn.) Regional Hospital closed March 9. The hospital will remain closed until Campbell County can secure another entity to assume management duties.
22. Wausau, Wis.-based Aspirus Health shut down its Aspirus Ontonagon (Mich.) Hospital and turned it into a rural health clinic, effective April 20.
23. Port Arthur-based the Medical Center of Southeast Texas, part of Dallas-based Steward Health Care, shuttered its Beaumont campus, including its emergency department and all hospital-related services, on Feb. 2.
24. Kettering (Ohio) Health closed its emergency department at Kettering Health Piqua (Ohio) on Feb. 1 due to a shift in care needs that led to fewer "true emergency cases."
25. Family Hospital at Millard in Omaha, Neb., part of Cedar Park, Texas-based Family Hospital Systems, shut its doors in January.