Hudson, N.Y.-based Columbia Memorial Health has submitted an application with federal regulators to convert to a critical access hospital.
If approved by CMS, the hospital — part of Albany (N.Y.) Med Health System — would reduce its number of licensed beds from 192 to 25. Hospital officials link the decision to regional population shifts and low patient volumes, according to reports from The Daily Gazette and Times Union.
“While we have a lot of beds in our hospital, they are underutilized,” Dorothy Urschel, DNP, CEO and president of CMH, told the Gazette. “On an average daily center, we have only 40 to 50 patients. This structure allows us to reinvest in our hospital and continue to provide fundamental care for our community. We will continue to have a 24/7 emergency room, continue all the care we are providing now, strengthen the primary care network and transition to 25 medical-surgical beds.”
Ms. Urschel also dispelled claims circulating among the community that the hospital is closing or planning to lay off staff. The shift would not affect the hospital’s 37 outpatient locations, she added. While the hospital is seeking to wind down med-surg beds, it plans to expand its behavioral health bed count to 45. That would require a separate operating license, Ms. Urschel explained.
“We would continue and license those beds separately,” she said. “The medical and surgical portion is the critical access portion, with the mental health portion licensed separately.”
In a statement to the Gazette, a spokesperson for Albany Med Health system reiterated the hospital is not planning to close.
“CMH is not launching a shutdown plan,” the statement said. “We have a very deep commitment to Columbia and Greene counties. We do not have a plan to reduce staff. We are beginning conversations with members of the community about how to evolve CMH in a way that meets their needs best now and into the future. That also includes an analysis of data showing how the community uses CMH and how we can provide necessary care in the right place at the right time.”
Becker’s has also reached out to CMH and will update the report as more information becomes available.
