Dive Brief:
- Tenet Healthcare will shutter its Abrazo Maryvale Campus, effective Dec. 18, and stop taking new inpatients after Dec. 1. The 232-bed Phoenix hospital is part of the Abrazo Community Health Network.
- In a message published on the hospital’s website, Abrazo Maryvale CEO Stan Holm said the decision was based on declining demand for services. The hospital curtailed some services and realigned as a satellite facility of Abrazo West Campus in May.
- The closure should not hurt access to care, Holms stressed, noting there are four full-service acute care hospitals and 11 urgent care centers within a six-mile radius of Abrazo Maryvale.
Dive Insight:
Hospital officials are “in discussions with other parties who could repurpose the Abrazo Maryvale Campus for other healthcare-related services,” Holm said. Employees in good standing will be given priority for jobs within the Abrazo Community Health Network and its affiliated partners.
Dwindling patient volumes are hurting hospitals across the country. Earlier this week, Care New England announced it will close Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, due to low patient numbers. The 294-bed hospital’s daily inpatient count has averaged 15 to 20 inpatients a day, resulting in a $23 million operating loss in fiscal year 2016.
The two hospitals’ struggles echo other hospitals and health systems that are seeing inpatient volumes decline as patients turn to urgent care, retail clinics and other lower-cost care delivery models.
Both Tenet and Care New England, a Rhode Island healthcare system, have struggled to reverse operating losses. Tenet recently announced plans to sell eight hospitals in four markets, including Philadelphia, and signed a definitive agreement to sell Chicago-area MacNeal Hospital to Loyola Medicine. The Dallas-based system, which reported a $56 million net loss in the second quarter, is also considering splitting up its three main business lines — hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers and revenue-cycle software.
Care New England, meanwhile, has spent much of the year in talks with Partners Healthcare over a possible acquisition. The purchase stalled in August, but the two sides plan to resume talks this fall to see if a deal can still be worked out. Partners reportedly wanted to see better financials before moving forward.