Mercyhealth, a seven-hospital system based in Janesville, Wis., announced Aug. 18 that it is cutting inpatient emergency services at Javon Bea Hospital-Rockton in Rockford, Ill., according to TV station WTVO.
The hospital will continue to provide outpatient and clinic services, and the severely injured and sickest patients will be transferred to the level 1 trauma center at Mercyhealth's Javon Bea Hospital-Riverside in Rockford, according to the report.
Mercyhealth president and CEO Javon Bea attributed the changes to reduced patient volume due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the Rockford Register Star.
"It is a new world and, like so many other businesses and health systems, we must adapt," Mr. Bea said in a news release, according to the report. "It is just common sense to streamline and unify our services between our two campuses for efficiency and better coordination and continuity of care for our patients, with the changing patient patterns resulting from COVID-19."