While shuttered North Adams (Mass.) Regional Hospital is targeting a March 2024 reopening date, it still has a few more steps to take in the process, The Berkshire Eagle reported Dec. 21.
Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Health Systems, which purchased the hospital after it closed in March 2014, shared the plans to reopen it in June. Since its closure, the hospital is now called the North Adams Campus of Berkshire Medical Center, and offers a cardiac rehabilitation unit, numerous outpatient services, an emergency department, and more, the publication shared.
However, a recent federal guidelines change is making it possible to reopen the hospital under its former name. While the facility will be able to reopen with 25 inpatient beds, NARH will only operate 18 when it becomes a critical access hospital.
"We are incredibly pleased that the Public Health Council of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health voted last week to approve our Determination of Need application for original licensure of a hospital in North Adams," a spokesperson for Berkshire Health Systems said in a statement shared with Becker's. "We are grateful for our legislators, especially Congressman Richard Neal and Representative John Barrett, local leaders, the BHS employee team, and members of our community, all of whom have played important roles in bringing our application to this point."
Now that BHS has the state Department of Public Health's application and authorization approval to move forward with hospital renovations, the final regulatory step at the state level is a hospital licensure, along with a CMS designation as a critical access hospital, The Berkshire Eagle reported.
Inside the hospital, demolition work is ongoing to prepare it for $2.85 million in renovations needed prior to opening.
The renovations have faced setbacks, as the Massachusetts Senior Care Association and Pittsfield, Mass.-based Integritus Healthcare, a not-for-profit nursing home organization, expressed concerns on how the new 18-swing beds could affect the region's healthcare and long-term care ecosystem, Darlene Rodowicz, president of BHS told the publication.
"There are three critical access hospitals in the state already, all of whom have swing beds, and I’m not aware of any incidents where a hospital with swing beds has caused a nursing home to close," Ms. Rodowicz told the publication. "The swing is so important for some patients; it’s not available for all patients. It’s not intended to be a place you stay for a long time, it’s intended to stay one or two weeks and then you go home. That doesn’t apply to every patient that is looking for a subacute level of care."
BHS, which is currently hiring for around 70 new positions, will need a certificate of occupancy from the city of North Adams once renovations wrap up, with the state DPH then conducting a licensure survey.
Once both are complete, patients can be admitted to the hospital, however, CMS must still give approval before NARH can become a critical access hospital.