On Nov. 14, St. Louis-based Ascension shared plans to close a micro-hospital in Wisconsin and consolidate higher acuity-care services to fewer hospitals in southeast Wisconsin.
Six things to know:
- Effective Jan. 13, the health system and its joint venture partner, Emerus Holdings, will close a micro-hospital in Waukesha. The decision was made after "a thorough evaluation of the utilization of services and resources" at the facility, which mainly provided emergency department care and low-acuity services. A spokesperson for Ascension's Wisconsin market told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that the facility had "consistently low volumes" since its 2021 opening. In its announcement regarding the closure, Ascension said there are five other emergency departments within 15 miles of the Waukesha facility.
- All labor and delivery services for Ascension's southeast Wisconsin footprint will be concentrated in three hospitals: St. Joseph Hospital in west Milwaukee, Columbia St. Mary's Hospital on the east side, and All Saints Hospital in Racine. Meanwhile, labor and delivery units at Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Hospital-Ozaukee in Mequon and Ascension SE Wisconsin Hospital-Elmbrook in Brookfield will close, the Sentinel reported. The health system has not said when the labor and delivery units at the two hospitals will close.
- Ascension will also close cardiac catheterization labs at St. Joseph Hospital and St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee. The health system is consolidating cath lab services to four hospitals in the region — Ascension SE Wisconsin Hospital—Franklin Campus, Columbia St. Mary's Hospital—Milwaukee Campus, Elmbrook Hospital and All Saints Hospital.
"These sites will serve all of Ascension's southeast Wisconsin hospitals and surrounding communities via an integrated STEMI and cath lab network," the system said in a news release. "This strategy ensures highly experienced care teams can perform round-the-clock, minimally invasive heart procedures." - Additionally, the health system plans to centralize all inpatient behavioral health services in southeast Wisconsin to Ascension St. Francis Hospital. In line with this change, inpatient mental health units at All Saints Hospital and Columbia St. Mary's Hospital-Ozaukee will close, a spokesperson confirmed to the Sentinel. Ascension is investing $10 million to expand the inpatient behavioral health center at St. Francis by up to 60 beds. It currently has about 20 inpatient mental health beds.
- In a statement to Becker's, a spokesperson for Ascension Wisconsin said the changes are necessary to provide access to sustainable care in the region.
"We must be good stewards of our resources. It is both necessary and responsible to continually modernize our approach, aligning with our communities' needs," the statement said."
"Providing broad access to lower acuity services like primary care while concentrating complex care at centralized locations is typical among healthcare systems across the country and a model we are adopting in a more meaningful way to ensure we are best managing the significant resources required to deliver specialty care." - Ascension has reported significant financial losses related to the fallout from a ransomware attack in May that disrupted IT networks at its facilities across the country for more than a month.