Several healthcare organizations have closed medical departments or ended services at facilities to shore up finances, focus on more in-demand services or prevent patient care lapses.
Below are 15 closures or service endings announced, advanced or finalized since May 1, as reported by Becker's Hospital Review.
1. Tyler Memorial Hospital in Tunkhannock, Pa., owned by Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems, will end surgical and acute inpatient care Sept. 17, but the hospital will continue to offer emergency and outpatient services.
2. Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine is moving all obstetric and neonatal services at its McHenry (Ill.) Hospital to one in Huntley, Ill. While all inpatient women's and children's care will be consolidated at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital, the system's McHenry Hospital will still offer gynecologic surgery.
3. Schenectady, N.Y.-based Ellis Medicine's proposed merger with Albany, N.Y.-based St. Peter's Health Partners would result in changes to the services Ellis offers. If the deal is finalized, abortions would no longer be performed at Ellis Medicine because it would be required to follow the ethical and religious directives of a Catholic organization, Ellis Medicine President and CEO Paul Milton said Aug. 2.
4. Amita Health Saints Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center Chicago is seeking approval to close its pediatric unit. The Chicago hospital said in a July application to close the unit that it admitted just 134 kids throughout 2019. The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board must approve Amita Health's application.
5. Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital in Dover, Ohio, will close its outpatient surgery center by Sept. 1. When the Tuscarawas Ambulatory Surgery Center closes, all surgeries and procedures will be transferred to the Dover hospital.
6. One Brooklyn Health's Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York City closed 200 beds and ended inpatient services July 1 as part of a planned transition. The facility will be turned into a medical village with emergency services, primary, specialty and post-acute care.
7. MercyOne Oakland (Neb.) Medical Center ended inpatient and emergency care July 1 after years of declining volume. While inpatient and emergency department services have ended, clinics at MercyOne Oakland and its affiliate, Lyons (Neb.) Family Medicine, will remain open.
8. Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health closed its 24-hour standalone emergency center in Ware, Mass., on June 3. All emergency department services that were offered at the Baystate Mary Lane Satellite Emergency Facility in Ware will transition to Baystate Wing Hospital in Palmer, Mass., which is about 9 miles away.
9. Mayo Clinic Health System is closing six clinics in Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin because of low patient volume. The one clinic in Iowa and four in Minnesota closed in May, while the Wisconsin clinic will close Jan. 1, 2022.
10. Catholic Health's Sisters of Charity Hospital, St. Joseph campus, in Cheektowaga, N.Y., transitioned into an outpatient and ambulatory care center in May. Under the transition, the hospital closed its intensive care unit and ended inpatient services.
11. Paradise Valley Hospital in National City, Calif., closed its obstetrics, labor and delivery and newborn nursing units Aug. 4. The closures affected about 40 employees.
12. Mishawaka, Ind.-based Franciscan Health will cut 218 inpatient beds at its 226-bed hospital, Franciscan Health Hammond (Ind.). The healthcare system said it will shrink the hospital to an eight-bed acute care facility with an emergency department and primary care practice. The health system said it will stop providing most high-end surgical services at the facility and house inpatient stays on a short-term basis.
13. Community HealthCare System closed the emergency room and all inpatient beds at its hospital facility in St. Marys, Kan. St. Marys' ER and inpatient services ended June 4. Community HealthCare, based in Onaga, Kan., is licensed for a 25-bed critical access hospital, with eight of the beds at St. Marys and the rest at Onaga Community Hospital. Six staff positions were eliminated because of the closure.
14. St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., winded down COVID-19 inpatient services at the end of May, affecting 325 jobs. COVID-19 care is one of the last remaining inpatient services at St. Joseph's Hospital, which has been gradually shutting down inpatient services over the last few months and transitioning to a community hub for health and wellness.
15. Upper Allegheny Health System, a two-hospital system based in Olean, N.Y., reduced acute care and surgical service offerings at Bradford (Pa.) Regional Medical Center. Under the plan, the targeted services moved to the health system's other hospital, Olean General Hospital, on May 1.