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Statehouse hearing includes plan to close Leominster maternity ward
UMass Memorial Health’s proposed closure of its maternity unit in Leominster will come under scrutiny when lawmakers hold a public hearing Tuesday at the Statehouse.
The hospital system announced last month staff shortages and falling birth rates as the reasons for pursuing closure on Sept. 22.
Next week’s hearing will focus on two bills.
One aims to overhaul the state’s process for closing hospital services. More than 40 hospitals and hospital services have shut down since 2009, despite the fact that state health officials felt those services were necessary to the communities they serve, said a press release from the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
A busload of nurses and other providers at the Leominster hospital, plus community members, are expected to attend Tuesday’s hearing and demand the maternity unit remain open.
The proposed closure is part of a trend by health care corporations statewide to funnel patients to more profitable medical centers, the nurses association says. Maternity closures disproportionately impact low-income and communities of color, and the nurses association cited a state commission report that counted 10 maternity closures in the past decade largely impacting racial minorities.
Lawmakers want to meet with UMass Memorial Health
Earlier this month, lawmakers representing North Central Massachusetts sent a letter to UMass Memorial Health President Eric Dickson that requested a meeting to discuss the proposed closure.
The letter pointed out that lawmakers approved more than $33 million in state funds for UMass Memorial Health in November to stabilize the delivery of services in Central Massachusetts. Given those funds, lawmakers want to know why the health system didn’t come forward to ask for help if the maternity unit is struggling financially.
Transparency of hospital CEO pay
The other bill to be discussed Tuesday will shine a light on hospital finances. It calls for a pay limit for chief executive officers, and according to the nurses association, hospitals choose profits over safe and accessible patient care.
“Current Massachusetts law is failing to meet this moment of crisis for patients and their caregivers,”said Nurses Association President and ICU nurse Katie Murphy in a prepared statement. “Access to essential services has declined across the Commonwealth because our healthcare system follows a corporate, profit-driven Wall Street model and our state has limited powers to ensure patients can receive necessary care.”
Hospital corporations in Massachusetts stashed at least $1.6 billion in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens, said the nurses association. Meanwhile, the association cited a report that said many hospital executives got a pay raise during the COVID-19 pandemic, while rank and file workers had wages and retirement benefits frozen.
“Healthcare disparities are worsening because our system unequally distributes financial resources, leaving behind the disadvantaged and most vulnerable while allowing huge corporations to profit and give executives millions,” said the association’s Murphy in a prepared statement. “Requiring greater financial transparency and clawing back excessive CEO pay will help us re-center our priorities on ensuring safe and accessible patient care.”
The hearing will also address the proposed closure of the 32-bed Morton Comprehensive Addiction Program in Taunton.
Contact Henry Schwan at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter: @henrytelegram.
