Learn why 29 hospitals around the USA closed in 2019. Who's Next?
ACCESS TO CARE
As Healthcare reimbursement changes and more surgical procedures are restricted to the outpatient setting, hospitals around the nation can't sustain operations and are leaving communities. Will YOUR LOCAL HOSPITAL BE NEXT?
SurgeryShopper’s Chief Transformation Officer, Maria Todd, consults to hospitals that hire her to attempt “Hail Mary” efforts to boost revenues, troubleshoot collections and appeal wrongly denied claims and renegotiate payer agreements with insurance plans, employers, and TPAs. But sometimes, they wait too long to call and continued operations are no longer a possibility.
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Alabama
1. Georgiana (Ala.) Medical Center closed March 8. due to escalating costs and reimbursement cuts.
Alaska
2. Sitka (Alaska) Community Hospital closed July 29 and it now offers a variety of outpatient services, including a family clinic and long-term care.
Arizona
3. Steward Health Care closed St. Luke’s Medical Center in Phoenix on Nov. 24, citing dwindling patient volumes and stagnant 40% occupancy for more than two years.
Arkansas
4. North Metro Medical Center in Jacksonville, Ark., closed Aug. 20 without advance notice, a loss of the only local emergency department.
5. De Queen (Ark.) Medical Center (22 beds) filed for bankruptcy in April and closed May 7. The county originally planned to take over the troubled hospital, but they ultimately decided it was facing too many court judgments and liens to save.
Florida
6. Williston, Fla.-based Regional General Hospital closed in June, after being denied a license renewal by the State.
Illinois
7. Westlake Hospital (230 beds) in Melrose Park, Ill., closed in August, a few weeks after being sold by Tenet Healthcare.
8. Quorum Health closed MetroSouth Medical Center (314 beds) in Blue Island, Ill., on Sept. 30.
Indiana
9. Kentuckiana Medical Center in Clarksville, Ind., closed April 5 after previously filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy from which they could not emerge.
Kansas
10. Oswego (Kan.) Community Hospital and its two affiliated clinics closed Feb. 14 because the hospital wasn’t bringing in enough revenue to cover payroll and other expenses. It entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 17.
11. Horton (Kan.) Community Hospital (25 beds) closed March 12 after struggling to pay utilities and missing payroll for several weeks. The hospital entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy on March 14.
Louisiana
12. Doctors Hospital at Deer Creek in Leesville, La., closed in January 2019, after filing for bankruptcy in October 2018.
Missouri
13. I-70 Community Hospital in Sweet Springs, Mo., closed in February 2019 after suspending its license. In March, the hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Ohio
14. Belmont Community Hospital, (99-beds) in Bellaire, Ohio, closed April 5, citing a decline in patient volume as the reason for the closure.
15. East Ohio Regional Hospital in Martins Ferry closed Sept. 27. citing mounting financial losses as one of the factors that forced the hospital to shut down.
Oklahoma
16. Mercy Hospital El Reno (Okla.) closed April 30. St. Louis-based Mercy said it ended its lease of the hospital due to declining inpatient volumes, which caused financial losses. Under a lease agreement that took effect May 1, Oklahoma City-based SSM Health St. Anthony Hospital began operating the emergency department of the hospital in El Reno.
17. Haskell County Community Hospital in Stigler, Okla., closed Oct. 2, after filing for bankruptcy protection earlier this year.
Pennsylvania
18. Harrisburg, Pa.-based UPMC Pinnacle closed its hospital in Lancaster, Pa., on Feb. 28. upon a decision to consolidate inpatient services on one campus 7 miles away.
19. Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia closed in early September. A bankruptcy judge approved the sale of its residency programs on Sept. 5.
20. Ellwood City (Pa.) Medical Center closed Dec. 10, a day after its CEO resigned. Fla.-based Americore Health, which owns Ellwood City Medical Center, said it hopes to reopen the facility in early 2020.
Tennessee
21. Jamestown (Tenn.) Regional Medical Center (85 beds) closed on June 13, just one day after its Medicare and Medicaid funding was cut off. Fla.-based Rennova Health, which owns Jamestown Regional, said mistakes made during the transition to a new billing company in December 2018 led to financial challenges at the hospital. (Hope that billing company had errors and omissions business liability insurance!)
22. Cumberland River Hospital in Celina, Tenn., closed March 1 due to financial challenges caused by declining reimbursements and lower patient volumes.
Texas
23. Chillicothe (Texas) Hospital closed July 22, citing a decline in patient volume due to patients traveling to other hospitals for care. The hospital also experienced decreasing reimbursements.
24. Memorial Hospital of Hamlin (Texas) closed July 31. Declining patient volume and dwindling reimbursement rates were among the factors that led to the hospital’s closure.
25. Van Zandt Regional Medical Center in Grand Saline, Texas, closed Aug. 5. Medicare cutbacks, dwindling reimbursement from insurance companies and a financial burden left by previous management were among the factors that forced the hospital to close.
26. Southcross Hospital in San Antonio closed Oct. 11, and then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.
27. Nix Medical Center, a 208-bed hospital in San Antonio, closed in November. citing dwindling community demand for acute care over the past year.
Washington, D.C.
28. Providence Hospital closed April 30 after 158 years of service. St. Louis-based Ascension, which owns Providence, said it was shutting down the hospital and making investments in other types of services, including telehealth, care coordination, home care and community-based behavioral healthcare.
West Virginia
29. Ohio Valley Medical Center in Wheeling, W.Va., closed in September after failure to align with a strategic partner, lack of interest from potential buyers and a more than $37 million operating loss over the last two years.
