Two Ohio hospitals face closure as Steward Health Care continues to sell and, in some cases, close its facilities.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine expressed disappointment over the closure of two hospitals in Warren, Ohio. Steward Health Care, which is in bankruptcy, says it has no other choice.
Steward announced that Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital, both in Warren, Ohio, will close next month.
Trumbull Regional, which has 280 beds, has served the Warren area for more than a century. Hillside offers 69 beds for patients recovering from strokes, brain injuries and other serious illnesses. Steward also plans to close several other clinics and related facilities.
Both hospitals are scheduled to close on September 19, WKBN-TV and other media in Ohio reported.
Steward filed for bankruptcy in the spring and is working on selling its 31 hospitals.
In a statement to WFMJ-TV, Steward said financial difficulties and unsuccessful attempts to sell the two hospitals left the system with no choice but to close the facilities. Steward said there remains hope that other qualified bidders will emerge, but plans are to close the facilities next month.
“Steward Health Care, along with its lenders and other key stakeholders, has been actively working to sell or transfer Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital to new operators. However, despite best efforts to find qualified buyers, no viable offers have been received for Trumbull Regional or Hillside,” the system told WFMJ.
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine expressed regret over the planned closure of the two hospitals in Warren, a city of 39,000 residents just over an hour from Cleveland. DeWine released a joint statement with Ohio Department of Health Director Bruce Vanderhoff about the impending closure of the facilities.
“We are deeply saddened by this news. We take the potential loss of a health care provider seriously, and we understand the deep bonds that can form between a hospital and the community it serves,” DeWine and Vanderhoff said in the statement.
“Steward Health Care’s management must be held accountable for actively supporting their local physicians as they work with patients and their families to find the best possible treatment alternative. While they have committed to doing so, we will actively work with the local healthcare community to ensure they keep that promise,” they said.
Ohio officials are confident that other nearby hospitals can meet the community’s needs. DeWine’s office pointed out that Mercy Health St. Joseph Hospital in Warren is about 1.5 miles from Trumbull Regional. Another facility, Mercy Health St. Elizabeth Hospital in Youngstown, which has more than 400 beds, is less than 15 miles away.
“We will continue to monitor the situation and provide all possible support to the region and its health care providers,” DeWine and Vanderhoff said in their statement.
The Ohio Nurses Association is calling on officials to take action to keep Hillside open. Hillside nurses were blindsided by Steward’s plans to close the facility, according to Rick Lucas, president and CEO of the Ohio Nurses Association, which represents Hillside’s registered nurses.
“This decision leaves our community without critical rehabilitation services and forces our dedicated team of nurses and healthcare professionals into unemployment due to Stewards’ unbridled greed,” Lucas said in a statement.
Although Hillside will not close until next month, the rehabilitation hospital is no longer accepting new patients, the association said Thursday. Both hospitals have said on their websites that they are open 24 hours a day for patient care.
Before Steward announced his plans to close the hospitals, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) urged Steward to ensure patient care continued.
Following the announcement of the facility closures, Brown said in a statement: “It is a shame that corporate greed has led to the loss of a hospital that has served this community for more than 100 years. My office is closely monitoring this situation and is working to support the affected employees and ensure patients continue to have access to quality care.”
A group of local businessmen have formed an organization called Warren City Hospital to buy and improve Trumbull Regional. John A. Guarnieri of Howland, a retired businessman and president of Warren City Hospital, said earlier this month that the community would no longer have health care if the hospital were to close.
“Our main goal is to save the hospital and its importance to the community’s health care,” Guarnieri said in a statement earlier this month.
An attempt to reach Steward for comment was unsuccessful.
Steward is in the process of selling more hospitals across the country. Orlando Health has made a $439 million bid to buy three Steward hospitals on Florida’s east coast.
Last week, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey announced that she had found a new owner for five Steward hospitals in the state. Her administration is using the right of expropriation to save a facility. However, two Steward hospitals in Massachusetts are facing closure.
