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 nine that have announced or completed closures in the last two months:
1. St. Louis-based SSM Health said it will stop treating serious trauma cases, end cardiac and complex neurological surgeries and close its labor and delivery unit at St. Joseph Hospital in St. Charles, Mo.
2. Asheville, N.C.-based Mission Health is ending primary care services at two of its offices, the health system confirmed to Becker's Hospital Review. Mission Health said it will move primary care services at the Biltmore Park office in Asheville and the office in Candler to the organization's other primary care locations, effective Oct. 30.
3. West Hills (Calif.) Hospital, owned by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare, is closing its obstetrics program and neonatal intensive care unit Nov. 1.
4. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare submitted 90-day closure notices for inpatient medical services at Natick, Mass.-based Leonard Morse Hospital. The proposal calls for the closure of medical/surgical services, the intensive care unit, operating rooms, the emergency department and outpatient rehabilitation services. Inpatient care at Leonard Morse Hospital is expected to end Oct. 24.
5. Franciscan Health Rensselaer (Ind.) Hospital will close its licensed residential unit. The hospital's 21-bed AlternaCare unit is slated to close Oct. 1, 35 years after it opened.
6. Mercyhealth, a seven-hospital system based in Janesville, Wis., announced in August that it is cutting inpatient emergency services at Javon Bea Hospital-Rockton in Rockford, Ill.
7. Riverside (Calif.) Community Hospital said it will close its pediatric unit Nov. 17 due to low patient volume.
8. 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.
9. 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.