Several healthcare organizations recently closed medical units or terminated services to shore up finances, focus on more in-demand services or improve patient care.
Here are five hospitals and health systems that have announced closures, completed closures or ceased some medical services in the last month, reported by Becker's Hospital Review.
1. OB-GYN shortage halts labor, delivery services at rural UnityPoint hospital
UnityPoint Health–Trinity is pausing its labor and delivery services Feb. 7 at its hospital in Muscatine, Iowa, in part because it is struggling to recruit and retain OB-GYN physicians.
2. Wake Forest Baptist Health to close Lexington hospital's labor and delivery unit
Lexington (N.C.) Medical Center will close its labor and delivery unit by the end of June.
3. Tenet to end inpatient services at Massachusetts hospital
Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare will end inpatient services at its 160-bed Leonard Morse Hospital in Natick, Mass.
4. UPMC hospital ceases all inpatient services
All inpatient services, including emergency and surgical care, ended at UPMC Susquehanna Sunbury (Pa.) on Jan. 31.
5. Missouri hospital ordered to stop performing surgery
In January, Missouri health regulators told Pinnacle Regional Hospital in Booneville, Mo., to stop performing surgery until its sterile processing unit is upgraded.