Boston-based Steward Health Care announced Aug. 16 it will close Northside Regional Medical Center in Youngstown, Ohio, though leaders at competing facilities said they were not surprised by the closure, according to The Business Journal.
Northside Regional's falling patient census in recent years led Don Kline, regional CEO of Mercy Health-Youngstown, to expect the hospital to close, though he said it was not news he wanted to receive.
"None of us like to see this day come at all," Mr. Kline told The Business Journal. "We have been preparing. We have been on the ready in case this day came."
Ed Muransky, president and CEO of Boardman, Ohio-based Surgical Hospital at Southwoods, said his team was prepared but not necessarily excited for the news.
"When you hear the volumes that were going on up there, it's just not possible to continue great service and to stay afloat financially when you're handling 30 to 40 patients a day," Mr. Muransky said. "Still, it's a sad day. It's kind of a nostalgic day, even if you knew it was kind of coming."