Dive Brief:
- Quincy Medical Center's closure has been pushed back to February under pressure from Attorney General Martha Coakley, who in a letter said the original Dec. 31 date would have violated an agreement with the state requiring 90 days notice between Steward Health Care System's notification to state officials, which happened on Nov. 6, and the official date of closure.
- Steward, the fully integrated community care organization and community hospital network that owns Quincy, has cited financial losses and competition for its decision to close the hospital. The Department of Public Health has planned a Dec. 2 hearing on the closure and hospital officials said they plan to "participate accordingly."
- Steward told state officials the hospital already is seeing a steep decline in patients since it announced the closure.
Dive Insight:
Quincy's closure will be the largest hospital closure in Massachusetts in 10 years. Observers say the closure is happening because there's just too many beds in the area south of Boston where it operates: Just 40% of Quincy's beds are generally filled and about 70% of its patients are on Medicaid or Medicare. More desirable commercially insured patients are frequently going to some of the dozen hospitals based within a 10-mile radius of the dying facility. The big, famous teaching hospitals in Boston proper are also siphoning away patients.
Hospitals nationwide are under a greater level of financial pressure and have a harder time keeping their doors open. To Quincy's credit, Steward has already begun transitioning care at Quincy Medical Center (QMC) to what it calls "a more sustainable outpatient healthcare delivery network" in Quincy, MA. The new outpatient delivery system will include a new 24-hour emergency department, a separately-sited state-of-the-art urgent care center, a multi-specialty clinic in Quincy, radiological services including X-Ray, mammography, CT and ultrasound and a multi-point transportation plan.