After a three-hour session, the board voted 5-2 to close the hospital. Palomar Health is losing $20 million annually by operating the hospital, and the facility also needs more than $160 million in maintenance, Diane Hansen, Palomar’s vice president of finance, previously told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
The downtown hospital campus houses a labor and delivery department, inpatient rehabilitation, a reserve emergency room, a behavioral health department and some outpatient surgery operations. Those services will now be moved to Palomar Medical Center in Escondido and Pomerado Hospital in Poway, Calif. It will take approximately 90 to 180 days to shut down the hospital and move the services to the two other facilities, according to the report.
The hospital closure will result in between 250 and 300 per diem and full-time workers being laid off, according to the report.
More articles on hospital closures:
Hospital operator in contempt for unexpectedly closing N.C. hospital, judge rules
The community hospital survival guide: Strategies to keep the doors open
Cleveland Clinic hit with $400M lawsuit over Lakewood Hospital closure
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