McCready Health, a single-hospital system in Crisfield, Md., has merged with Salisbury, Md.-based Peninsula Regional Health System.
The organizations completed the merger March 1, eight months after signing a definitive agreement to combine. After the deal closed, McCready Hospital stopped providing inpatient care and surgical services and transitioned to a freestanding medical facility.
"The financial reality is that McCready does not maintain a daily census of patients sufficient to support the services required to qualify as a hospital as defined by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services," Kathleen Harrison, president of McCready Foundation, said in a release. "The path to keeping healthcare services in the county became clear: McCready needed to merge with an established and supportive partner like the Peninsula Regional Health System and transition to an FMF in place."
The facility will offer 24/7 emergency care, physical therapy, behavioral health services, speech therapy, outpatient physicians services, and imaging and laboratory services.
Over the next 24 to 36 months, Peninsula Regional Health System will build a new McCready Health Pavilion located east of Crisfield. When construction is completed, services offered at the FMF will transition to the new pavilion.
Tawes Nursing Home and Chesapeake Cove Assisted Living in Crisfield also joined Peninsula Regional Health System. Those facilities will not relocate.