St. Louis-based Homer G. Phillips Memorial Hospital’s board of directors voluntarily surrendered its hospital license March 17 to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, a spokesperson for DHSS confirmed with Becker’s.
When a hospital surrenders its license, it closes. Should the hospital wish to reopen within one year of the closure date, it will need to obtain a certificate-of-need relicensure letter that states that the hospital will reopen by a certain date and will be licensed under the same prior general licensure conditions, the spokesperson said.
The hospital would then be required to go through the entire CON process to become a hospital again after one year.
The hospital has been closed temporarily since December when its license was suspended due to a shortage in blood supply.
In early March, a spokesperson for DHSS revealed that the hospital was close to missing its deadline to reopen. It also terminated multiple employees Feb. 28 due to “ongoing business challenges.”
“At the end of December, the hospital requested an extension of the temporary licensure suspension to allow more time to correct outstanding deficiencies,” the DHSS spokesperson said. “Under regulation, a hospital can request one extension to a previously approved temporary suspension, so we approved the extension to March 17, 2025. In order to grant the extension, the department renewed the hospital’s license for another year. The hospital remained closed to patient care. A plan of correction was submitted, but it was denied by DHSS.”
Homer G. Phillips Memorial, which initially opened January 2024, had faced uncertainty since its initial temporary closure, along with at least two employee lawsuits over owed back pay.
Becker’s has reached out to the hospital for comment and will update this story should more information become available.
