Many hospitals and emergency departments have been forced to close in 2024 due to circumstances like high costs and shifts in care needs.
Becker's has reported on four hospital and emergency department closures in 2024:
Editor's note: This article was updated March 6 at 7:30 a.m. CT.
1. Wausau, Wis.-based Aspirus Health is shutting down its Aspirus Ontonagon (Mich.) Hospital and turning it into a rural health clinic, effective April 20.
2. Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System is closing two hospitals: Chippewa Falls, Wis.-based St. Joseph's Hospital and Eau Claire, Wis.-based Sacred Heart Hospital, along with multiple regional health centers the health system operates in conjunction with Green Bay, Wis.-based Prevea Health. The hospitals and health centers will close around the end of the first quarter of 2024.
3. Port Arthur-based the Medical Center of Southeast Texas, part of Dallas-based Steward Health Care, shuttered its Beaumont campus, including its emergency department and all hospital-related services, on Feb. 2.
4. Kettering (Ohio) Health closed its emergency department at Kettering Health Piqua (Ohio) on Feb. 1 due to a shift in care needs that led to fewer "true emergency cases."