Patients are facing obstacles to secure care after CommonSpirit Vascular Surgery Penrose, a clinic inside Penrose Hospital in Colorado Springs, Colo., was forced to close after providers departed.
The clinic permanently closed Sept. 6, and letters have been sent informing patients of the situation. The vascular clinic employed two surgeons, along with two physician assistants and one nurse practitioner.
One patient said she has not found a new physician and paid more than $2,000 out of pocket for leg treatment bags, The Gazette reported Oct. 21. Without a physician's office, her insurance has stopped covering its share of the bills.
New vascular services will open at a different location for CommonSpirit patients, according to the report. The Chicago-based health system finalized an agreement in August 2023 to take over 15 of the 20 hospitals that had previously been under the Centura Health system for 27 years in Colorado and Western Kansas. This included the clinic at Penrose Hospital.
"CommonSpirit Penrose Hospital is grateful to Dr. William Chambers and Dr. William Fry for their decades-long service to our patients in the Colorado Springs community," Lindsay Radford, a spokesperson for the health system, said in a statement shared with Becker's. "We are disappointed they chose to leave the hospital, and we recognize the inconvenience this causes their patients. We are actively working to connect these patients with high-quality medical care."
The spokesperson added that the hospital will welcome "two new vascular surgeons in the very near future."