Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H., had to postpone some surgeries after its sterilization equipment malfunctioned in July, according to Fosters. 

Chicago activists want Mercy Hospital & Medical Center to be fully funded or for the Illinois governor and Chicago mayor to back a merger plan that collapsed due to a lack of state funding, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.

Citing a financial hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, Claremont, N.H.-based Valley Regional Healthcare will permanently close its urgent care clinic in Charlestown, N.H. 

SWAT and hostage units searched "every nook and cranny" of Ochsner LSU Health Shreveport-St. Mary Medical Center in Louisiana for the suspect in a shooting of a person there Aug. 12, according to local news station KSLA. After searching the entire hospital and not finding the gunman, it became a statewide manhunt. 

Emergency room visits involving respiratory illness jumped the day before a thunderstorm, likely due to changes in atmospheric conditions, a study published in JAMA Internal Medicine found.

Northwestern Medicine is instructing patients to avoid travel to downtown Chicago and suspending some patient appointments and procedures after hundreds of people looted stores near the hospital campus overnight and early Monday morning. 

For most level 1 trauma centers and tertiary care facilities, operating intensive care units at 80 percent to 90 percent capacity is standard — even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. But the intensity and duration of caring for severely ill patients during the pandemic have presented unique challenges for hospitals. 

The McAllen (Texas) Convention Center is now open as a relief valve for Rio Grande Valley hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. The facility will begin taking up to 50 patients and can accommodate 250.

Access to intensive care unit beds, which have become a critical resource for COVID-19 patients, varies significantly by median household income. According to new research published in Health Affairs, more low-income communities have no ICU beds than high-income communities.  

Georgia has reopened a surge facility in Atlanta for new coronavirus patients as cases in the state spike.

MetroWest Medical Center intends to shutter its inpatient pediatric unit at Framingham (Mass.) Union Hospital by the end of November due to low patient volume, according to local news source Wicked Local Franklin. 

Atlanta-based Grady Memorial Hospital is currently over capacity, according to a statement from Hospital President and CEO John Haupert warning about the pandemic's effect on the healthcare system, WGCL-TV reports.

CMS released its first monthly update of COVID-19 data on Medicare patients July 28, which found Black and dual-eligible members, who often have chronic illnesses, were much more likely to be hospitalized for COVID-19. 

Several healthcare organizations recently closed medical units or terminated services to shore up finances, focus on more in-demand services or prevent patient care lapses. Here are eight that have announced or completed closures in the last three weeks:

Two Texas health systems are resuming elective surgeries after a two-week hiatus. 

As part of a systemwide strategy, Cleveland-based University Hospitals plans to consolidate its birthing services and its cardiac surgery program, according to The Chronicle-Telegram.

A COVID-19 patient waited for a Tulsa hospital bed for more than nine hours July 22, according to George Monks, MD, president of the Oklahoma State Medical Association, Tulsa World reports.

Patients in the intensive care unit of Washington D.C-based United Medical Center are being transported to a nearby hospital due to a power outage, according to local NBC affiliate WRC-TV.

St. Albans, Vt.-based Northwestern Medical Center will stop providing addiction treatment services by the end of the month in a cost-saving move, according to local news station WCAX. 

In an effort to consolidate services and cut costs, Jersey City, N.J.-based Christ Hospital said it will close its OB-GYN department by July 31, according to NJ.com.