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 seven department closures or services that are ending or have been announced, advanced or finalized that Becker's reported since June 1:
1. Grove Hill (Ala.) Memorial Hospital is discontinuing its labor and delivery services, effective at the end of the business day on Aug. 16.
2. The California Department of Health will not interfere with San Jose, Calif.-based Regional Medical Center's plans to close its trauma center and reduce other services amid local stakeholder backlash. The hospital, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, plans to end its trauma services in August.
3. Robbinsdale, Minn.-based North Memorial Health closed the specialty nursery unit at its hospital in the city. The closure comes after years of declining births at the hospital. Additionally, North Memorial has seen more parents choose its newer, nearby hospital in Maple Grove, Minn. That hospital reported 4,591 births in 2022 and is the state's largest birthing center.
4. Tacoma, Wash.-based Virginia Mason Franciscan Health closed its outpatient rehabilitation and physical therapy clinic in Port Orchard, Wash. on July 12. The clinic is no longer financially viable with current insurance reimbursement rates, Chad Melton, president of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health's St. Michael Medical Center, said.
5. Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital in Palos Heights, Ill., plans to permanently discontinue pediatric services, citing a low daily census and related hiring challenges, according to an application the hospital filed with the Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board. Pending approval, the hospital would convert its eight licensed pediatric beds to medical surgical beds. In November 2022, inpatient pediatric services at Northwestern Medicine Palos Hospital were suspended. The hospital said its annual average daily census for pediatrics has been less than one patient per day since 2015.
6. Alameda (Calif.) Hospital ended elective surgeries on July 1 and relocated them to the Wilma Chan Highland Hospital Campus in Oakland, Calif., and San Leandro (Calif.) Hospital. Alameda Health System said it is relocated the surgeries "because a cross-functional work group that included physician and nursing leaders, post-acute staff and operational staff determined it is in the best interest of our patients — and to offset the costs associated with the seismic upgrade required to keep Alameda Hospital operational."
7. University of Missouri Health Care Women's Hospital in Columbia, Mo., permanently closed its emergency room on June 10. MU Health Care's University Hospital in Columbia will provide a centralized ER with a separate ER for children following the closure.