Bon Secours Health System today has announced it will be no longer offer acute care services at Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital (OLBH) after April 30. The ending of hospital-based patient care at OLBH is part of Bon Secours’ wind-down of operations in the Tri-State area. In January, Bon Secours announced that system-owned care sites and its physician network, Bellefonte Physician Services, would be closing by no later than the third quarter of 2020.
Since announcement of the closure, more than 20 job fairs have been hosted on the hospital campus and throughout the region. As a result, many staff members have accepted other employment or have tendered resignations. The continued availability of staff factored into the decision of an April 30 close date.
“When we announced that we would be winding down operations in Ashland, we knew that specific closing dates for departments and services would remain fluid as we had to consider our staffing levels and the safety of our patients,” said Jason Asic, OLBH interim president. “It’s recently become clear that it is in the best interests of our patients and staff to start working towards a known end-date for inpatient services at the main hospital facility. Many members of our team have already accepted new positions conditionally, meaning that start dates with their new employers can’t begin until their employment at OLBH ends. These employers have hired our staff in good faith, and we want to provide the timeframe for when these transitions can take place.”
All hospital-based patient care – including emergency services – will end at OLBH by April 30, and EMS will be notified that no patients will be accepted after that date. Medical Records in the hospital facility will remain open to patients beyond April 30. Throughout the community, many of OLBH’s affiliated physician practices will remain open beyond this date as well.
The availability of providers and staff will influence these future decisions and the health system will continue to utilize bonsecours.com/OLBHUpdates to provide exact closure dates for practices and services as they become known. Bon Secours continues to evaluate next steps for all of the physical facilities and equipment, and have been in contact with a variety of organizations. These discussions will continue as decisions are made during the wind-down process.