Hospital Sisters Health System is closing two hospitals in Western Wisconsin due to “prolonged operational and financial stress,” as well as other lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the system announced Monday.
Prevea Health, a physician network that partners with the health system to provide primary and specialty care services, will also close its locations across Chippewa Valley. About 1,400 clinicians and support staff employed by Hospital Sisters Health System and Prevea Health will be affected by the closures.
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Hospital Sisters Health System closures—which include Sacred Heart Hospital in Eau Claire and St. Joseph's Hospital in Chippewa Falls—are set to wrap up by April 21. Prevea Health's residency clinics will shut their doors no later than June 30.
Following an unsuccessful attempt to evade workforce constraints and local market challenges through a partnership, the systems decided that closing services in these areas was “the only feasible path forward,” Damond Boatwright, president and CEO of Hospital Sisters Health System, said in a news release Monday.
“While HSHS and Prevea intended to create an integrated health delivery model in Western Wisconsin in 2015, our operations in the region have struggled for the past several years due to a mismatch in the supply of and demand for local health care services,” Boatwright said.
Prevea Health and Hospital Sisters Health System are focused on safely winding down services and helping patients transition their care to nearby providers, according to the news release.
Just last year, nine rural hospitals closed as a result of accumulated financial losses, according to the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, a national policy center that advocates for improved healthcare payment and delivery systems.
The center found more than 300 rural hospitals face the immediate risk of closure because they lack financial reserves and do not have adequate revenues to cover care costs.
