Boston-based Steward Health Care System has announced it will keep the emergency department at Quincy (Mass.) Medical Center open, according to The Boston Globe.
Tuesday, Steward announced it would transfer the license for the emergency department to Carney Hospital in Dorchester, Mass., allowing Steward to continue satellite operations in QMC but, at the time of the report, no application had been submitted.
Steward had originally planned on closing the hospital at the end of the year, but the closing was recently delayed until February.
Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley and officials from QMC threatened to sue Steward to keep QMC's emergency department — which receives roughly 30,000 visits a year, or more than 80 visits a day — open.
Impeding access to a Veterans Affairs clinic inside QMC was also a major point of contention for Ms. Coakley and QMC, which has hired a lawyer to further explore their legal options against Steward, according to the report.
VA officials have said they will stay at QMC as long as care remains uninterrupted, but they are already looking for a new space for the clinic in Quincy, Braintree and Weymouth, just in case.
At a recent public hearing, executives from Steward promised to continue to provide care in the town of Quincy through a new 24-hour urgent care center and two other clinics, but they made no mention of plans for emergency services at the time, according to the report.
More articles on Quincy Medical Center:
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Quincy Medical Center, Nurses Union Ratify Agreement