Hospital and service closures often make headlines for their impact on community care, but can certain closures actually have a positive impact?
Becker’s has reported on just six hospital and emergency department closures so far in 2026, a significant reduction from the 23 reported in 2025. On the maternity side, Becker’s has reported 26 related closures so far in 2026, close to the 29 reported in 2025.
“Not all closures are bad,” Diana Richardson, president and CEO of Merrimack Health, said during the Becker’s 14th Annual CEO+CFO Roundtable panel: “When Hospitals Close, Communities Feel It: Solving the Growing Access Crisis.”
In October 2024, Lawrence (Mass.) General Hospital acquired two Holy Family hospitals in Haverhill, Mass., and Methuen, Mass., from bankrupt Dallas-based Steward Health Care. The system then rebranded to Merrimack Health in September 2025.
Ms. Richardson pointed to Merrimack’s mid-2026 decision to close maternity and neonatal services at its Methuen (Mass.) Hospital and consolidate them into its Lawrence Hospital. The system cited declining birth rates and concern over maintaining quality care at low-volume facilities for the consolidation.
“When we came together as a system, two of the hospitals [were] 1.7 miles apart, and both were maintaining maternity programs that…were not able to maintain the highest quality of service because [their] volumes had dropped,” she said. “Bringing those two services together and closing one of them was actually the responsible thing to do, not just financially…but from a programmatic, safety, patient experience perspective.”
At Coosa Valley Medical Center in Sylacauga, Ala., Amy Price, MSN, RN, chief nursing and operating officer, said staffing has been a challenge, with the hospital forced to compete for employees with larger systems in Birmingham and Auburn.
This past year, Coosa Valley moved nursery coverage to neonatal nurse practitioners to keep its obstetrics services, with the NNPs working with a pediatrician. The hospital is also doing a one-year rotation with the University of Alabama, with its OB program currently run by family practice OB physicians.
“Honestly, it’s something that we take great pride in because without the community’s confidence, the hospital doesn’t thrive,” she said. “Nobody wants to just exist in today’s environment.”
Anjalee Galion, MD, president of the medical staff and chief physician wellness officer at Children’s Hospital of Orange (Calif.) County, agreed with Ms. Richardson that not all closures are bad.
“Look, none of us want to do it,” she said. “If we’re making difficult decisions, how do we balance?”
Dr. Galion said pediatrics often signals what is coming in healthcare, and that in the last five to 10 years, pediatric inpatient units have closed at a steady rate. As a result, she said emergency departments grow less comfortable treating pediatrics, and nurses and physicians who rarely treat children feel the strain.
To combat this staffing pressure, Dr. Galion said CHOC’s physician group funded its own course on physician leadership. The executive management team later joined, helping physicians and leadership make decisions together.
“We can have small relationships, close teams,” she said. “I think that is critical for every system, no matter how big you are. Everyone in that ER should know each other, feel comfortable bringing up issues from the CEO to the first person at the valet that they meet. But it doesn’t mean we close our eyes to the opportunities in big data analytics and really thinking about the future, because if we are not at the table, we’re going to be on the menu.”
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