Several hospitals ending inpatient care this year cited lower patient volume as the reason for scaling back services.
Below are eight hospitals that announced plans to end inpatient care this year.
1. Plantation (Fla.) General Hospital, part of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, will stop providing inpatient care and convert to a freestanding emergency room operating under the direction of a nearby medical center. Physicians and other employees of Plantation General will transition to a new hospital that HCA is opening in Davie, Fla., about six miles away, on Nov. 15. Leaders said focusing all resources on the new hospital, HCA Florida University Hospital, will allow HCA to serve more patients throughout Broward County.
2. Community Hospital Long Beach (Calif.) is closing its emergency department and ending inpatient acute care, a move that allows it to avoid about $75 million in upgrades needed to meet seismic requirements. The hospital's operator, MWN Community Hospital, cited low patient volume as another reason for the transition. Community Hospital Long Beach's inpatient occupancy averages about 32 percent. The hospital plans to offer behavioral health, wellness and urgent care services, and the transition is expected to take several months.
3. Tyler Memorial Hospital in Tunkhannock, Pa., ended surgical and acute inpatient care Sept. 17, but the hospital continues to offer emergency and outpatient services. The 48-bed hospital scaled back services after experiencing a decline in patient volume over the past four years. The hospital's daily inpatient census has been less than 10 patients since 2013, according to the Rocket-Courier.
4. One Brooklyn Health's Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in New York City ended inpatient services July 1 as part of a planned transition. The facility will be turned into a medical village offering emergency services and primary, speciality and post-acute care.
5. MercyOne Oakland (Neb.) Medical Center ended inpatient and emergency care July 1 after years of declining volumes. Clinics at MercyOne Oakland and its affiliate, Lyons (Neb.) Family Medicine, remain open.
6. 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. The changes at the St. Joseph campus were announced in March by the hospital's Buffalo, N.Y.-based parent company, Catholic Health.
7. Community HealthCare System closed the emergency room and all inpatient beds at its hospital in St. Marys, Kan., on June 4.
8. St. Joseph's Hospital in St. Paul, Minn., ended COVID-19 inpatient services in May. COVID-19 care was one of the last remaining inpatient services at St. Joseph's Hospital, which gradually shut down inpatient services over several months.