In response to issues including poor financial performance and reimbursement challenges, medical facilities nationwide are closing their doors or shutting down service lines — which in turn may be advantageous to ASCs.
1. Springfield, Mass.-based Baystate Health and medical services provider Shields Health are closing their urgent care clinic locations in Feeding Hills, Longmeadow and Westfield, Mass., on March 31.
2. Lockport, N.Y.-based Eastern Niagara Health System's ASC is set to close its doors June 17. It is expected to reopen under new management. Eastern Niagara has been under financial strain since 2019, when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
3. Cabell Huntington Hospital, a member of Huntington, W.Va.-based Mountain Health Network, will close its ASC on April 28 due declining patient volume and decreasing financial performance. Surgeries scheduled at the ASC will be moved to three neighboring hospitals and surgery centers.
4. Phoenix-based Banner Health's surgery center in Loveland, Colo., will close March 31. It has been open since 2018. The ASC is closing due to a "duplication of services" between Banner and another ASC in the area.
5. Marble Falls, Texas-based Hill Country Memorial Surgery Center will close March 31. In November, the ASC was acquired by San Antonio Methodist Hospital, which will take ownership in March.
6. McLaren St. Luke's in Maumee, Ohio, will close and cease all outpatient services by mid-May. Grand Blanc, Mich.-based McLaren Health Care and Cincinnati-based Mercy Health aim to finalize an asset purchase agreement in which Mercy will acquire McLaren St. Luke's facilities, land and physical assets.
7. San Antonio-based Texas Vista Medical Center, part of Dallas-based Steward Health Care, is set to close May 1 barring a takeover or significant relief package. Steward has asked San Antonio-based University Health System and Bexar County to take over the troubled hospital. Both entities have declined, but Jon Turton, the hospital's president, is still optimistic about a potential takeover to save Texas Vista.