A pipe that froze and burst amid record-breaking cold has prompted a temporary closure of the emergency department at Boston Medical Center, ABC affiliate WCVB reported. The pipe burst on the evening of Feb. 4, with the ED set to remain closed until Feb. 7. 

Despite flu, COVID-19 and respiratory syncytial virus rates coming down, hospitals are about as full as they've ever been. 

Rumford (Maine) Hospital is closing its maternity program March 31 after 97 years in service.

CMS agreed to let Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehabilitation Center hold off on patient discharges until May 19 after San Francisco city officials advocated for the extension, radio station KQED reported Feb. 1.

At least three Austin, Texas-area hospitals are working through power outages as the region continues to be hit by a severe ice storm.

An Arizona fire district is creating an ambulance policy after one of its vehicles was stolen by a patient for the third time, news stations KTVK and KTVK and KPHO, a CBS affiliate, reported Jan. 30.

While the most recent intense respiratory virus season may have peaked and experts predict future seasons will model pre-pandemic patterns, capacity and staffing challenges will likely persist in future seasons.  

HSHS St. Mary's Hospital in Decatur, Ill., is seeking state approval to discontinue the service lines of advanced inpatient rehabilitation, obstetrics and newborn nursery, pediatrics and inpatient behavioral health services, according to a Jan. 23 news release shared with Becker's.

Competition closing would in other circumstances perhaps be positive, but an unexpected closure of ShorePoint Venice Hospital in North Venice, Fla., will now leave the community with 312 fewer hospital beds for patients. As a result, the remaining hospital in the region, Sarasota Memorial Hospital Venice, now may face capacity strains, according to the Herald-Tribune.

Ascension St. Vincent's Riverside in Jacksonville, Fla., will be ending maternity care at the hospital later this year, affecting 68 jobs, according to a Workforce Adjustment and Retraining Notification filed with the state Jan. 17.  

It has been nearly three weeks since Madera (Calif.) Community Hospital began to shut down services, and residents and nearby hospitals are feeling the effects. Local, state and federal officials have proposed a number of potential moves to keep the city's only hospital in operation, but a concrete solution has yet to emerge.

Hospitals that use the Hospital Incident Command System survey to improve emergency management planning now have until Feb. 28 to submit the survey. 

Ascension Columbia St. Mary's Hospital in Milwaukee is postponing some nonurgent surgeries for 30 days, according to a staff memo obtained by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Hospitals may face severe and prolonged winter virus seasons in the coming years that strain resources and hinder the capacity to care for other patients, White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, MD, told The Washington Post.

Hospitals nationwide are facing capacity issues amid ongoing staffing shortages and an early and severe start to the respiratory virus season. Now, the rapid spread of XBB.1.5 — a highly transmissible omicron subvariant with a high capacity for immune escape — threatens to further magnify these challenges.

The emergency department at Lithonia, Ga.-based Emory Hillandale Hospital remained open Jan. 10 after a car crashed into the waiting room earlier this week, injuring two people, the hospital confirmed in a statement shared with Becker's. 

A federal medical team helping the University of New Mexico Children's Hospital respond to a surge in patients with respiratory illnesses left the Albuquerque-based hospital Jan. 9, according to CBS affiliate KRQE News 13.

Framingham, Mass.-based MetroWest Medical Center diverted local ambulances from its hospital the past three weekends, citing staffing issues, the Framingham Source reported Jan. 4.

Ascension St. Francis Hospital in Milwaukee, part of Ascension Wisconsin, has ended labor and delivery services and transitioned them to other Milwaukee locations. 

Hospital overcrowding and healthcare access challenges have prompted two counties in Central California to issue emergency declarations in less than a week. Meanwhile, the largest health system in the region has gone out of network with several commercial insurance plans.