OCTOBER 4, 2023 – Northfield Hospital + Clinics will discontinue Hospice services, due to financial challenges at NH+C and chronic low demand for the service.
NH+C will work with patients to transfer their care to another local hospice provider. NH+C will make the transition as comfortable as possible.
Hospice care is planned to end in early November. Home Care services continue.
Hospice nurses will continue to provide home care, expanding NH+C’s Home Care schedule. This helps increase capacity for Home Care services to meet local needs.
The decision by NH+C’s Administration and Board is part of an overall review of services at NH+C to ensure the organization can serve the community for generations to come. NH+C – like healthcare organizations across the state – faces significant challenges. NH+C lost several million dollars in 2022 as expenses significantly outpaced revenue from services.
This is one step to address the gap between revenue and expenses. NH+C Administrators and Board expect to complete their review of service lines by yearend.
NH+C’s Administration and Board consider several criteria as they analyze service lines: finances, mission, and commitment to serving local communities. They also consider whether a service is available from other providers in the region.
“An organization can’t sustain ongoing heavy losses and continue to operate effectively,” Underdahl says. “We need to make sound business decisions so we can continue to thrive into the next generation.”
Healthcare organizations across the U.S. are under serious pressure from four converging trends: worker shortages; increased costs; flat payments; imbalance of government and private payors. Similar actions are occurring across the state and around the country.