Commonwealth Health, part of Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, will lay off 245 employees when it closes facilities at the end of October.
The health system is closing First Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in Kingston, Pa., and its various outpatient centers on Oct. 30. The hospital stopped accepting new admissions at the beginning of August.
Commonwealth Health said it had become increasingly difficult to maintain staffing at First Hospital over the past couple of years, and an incident at the hospital in June resulted in a significant decline in admissions. "As admissions declined, more staff members chose to leave," the health system said in an Aug. 1 news release.
When the hospital and its outpatient centers close, 245 employees will lose their jobs, according to a notice filed with state regulators.
"Current employees are being encouraged to apply for any open positions for which they are qualified across Commonwealth Health," a health system spokesperson told Becker's Hospital Review. "We hope that many of these valued team members will remain with our health system."