DPH deems UMass Leominster pediatric unit essential, amid closure plans
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UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital in Leominster
The Massachusetts Department of Public Health has decided the inpatient pediatric unit at Leominster’s UMass Memorial HealthAlliance-Clinton Hospital is an essential service, calling on the hospital to submit a detailed plan on how it plans to provide the service after the planned closure of the unit.
In an Aug. 16 letter to a law firm representing the hospital, DPH said the services are necessary for preserving access and health status in the hospital’s service area.
The DPH ordered the hospital to submit a detailed plan to assuring access to inpatient pediatric services after its closure.
In May, UMass Memorial said its plan to close the inpatient pediatric unit at the hospital is due to low patient volume, saying it averages less than one patient per day in the 11-bed unit.
The Massachusetts Nurses Association derided UMass for its recent string of announced closures. The group released another statement earlier this week calling on the hospital to maintain the services as is.
“The DPH is in agreement with the people of northern Worcester County and has found that these pediatric services are essential and should be maintained,” said Natalie Pereira, a registered nurse at Leominster Hospital and a member of the coalition formed around saving the pediatric unit at the Leominster campus. “As far as we are concerned, the only solution is to maintain these services as they are, where they are, for the good of the public. Now we will wait to see if UMass and HealthAlliance executives will actually do the right thing.”
The healthcare network also cited costs, as the system ran an operating deficit of 1.2 percent in fiscal 2017, including an 11-percent operating loss at Clinton Hospital.
"In order for our hospitals to survive in this increasingly challenging healthcare environment," the hospital network said in a statement, "we must respond to the demands of state policy makers and the public – do everything possible to improve quality and reduce our costs."
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