Greenville, Texas-based Hunt Regional Healthcare has shared plans to close its emergency departments in Commerce and Quinlan, both in Texas, on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. due to financial losses, according to a Sept. 23 post on the hospital’s Facebook page.
On Sept. 23, the citizen-elected representatives of the Hunt Memorial Hospital District Board of Directors voted to end the services at both ERs, a move that is expected to save more than $15 million annually.
“For years, the HMHD has absorbed the financial losses incurred by our freestanding emergency departments,” the post said. “Emergency facilities require 24-hour physician staffing, special equipment, supplies and medications. We can no longer afford to cover these losses and still offer the breadth of inpatient and outpatient services at our hospital in Greenville.”
Hunt Regional pointed to rising supply and labor costs, an increasing volume of uninsured patients and reduced payments from insurance companies and government payers, which have “stretched the organization financially.” The non-profit independent system also laid off 43 employees, consolidated vendors and made changes to billing and insurance processing earlier this year to cut costs.
While its two ERs will close, Hunt Regional Urgent Care in Commerce and six other existing Hunt Regional urgent care facilities will remain open. It also plans to open a Quinlan-based urgent care clinic in “the near future.”
Hunt Regional Healthcare comprises a Greenville-based, 360,000-square-foot hospital, three emergency departments, seven urgent care centers and nine family medicine offices, according to its website. It also has 12 specialty physicians, a pediatric clinic, a cardiac cath lab, a cancer center, outpatient behavioral health services, eight outpatient therapy centers and a retail pharmacy.
