HOLYOKE — The inpatient beds at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke are an essential service, and and operator Mercy Medical Center has to provide a more detailed plan of how and where people can get help if it’s to complete its plan and close those beds, according to a decision issued Friday by the state Department of Public Health.
Under the state’s ruling, Mercy and parent company Trinity Health of New England must submit a more detailed plan for state regulators before closing the facility, outlining how it will provide the services deemed essential. That plan is due in 15 days.
If the plan is acceptable, Mercy can close the beds.
Health care facilities are often able to close after submitting the follow-up reports, said Joe Markman, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents workers at Providence. Only in times when there is significant community pressure are closure plans abandoned.
Unions representing workers at Providence, advocates, and patients and their families plan to continue their advocacy, he said.
As part of its shutdown plan submitted months ago, Mercy said it can provide services at Trinity-owned hospitals in Connecticut: Mount Sinai Hospital in Hartford and Johnson Memorial in Stafford Springs.
State Rep. Aaron Vega, D-Holyoke, called the idea of sending people to Hartford a “slap in the face” at a hearing last month and reiterated his opposition in an interview this week. The distance is just too far to travel, he said, especially for people who don’t live in the Springfield/ Holyoke corridor on Interstate 91.
State regulators said Friday they want to know more about how patients will reach the alternative hospitals and how patients will know if out-of-state hospitals will take insurance, especially MassHealth.
“The plan which you are required to submit must address methods of transportation for patients who need access to inpatient care after the closure of the hospital as well as family and friends who wish to visit and will now have to travel out of the Holyoke/Springfield area,” the letter reads.
The plan must have travel times for both peak and off-peak travel times.
Mercy and Trinity must also tell the state if those alternate facilities do or do not have capacity in space and resources to handle increased patients. They have to back that up with details.
The state health department also wants to know how Mercy plans to address language barriers and cultural concerns.
Mercy and Trinity said the reason it was closing is because it cannot hire psychiatrists. State regulators demanded Friday that Trinity and Mercy back that up and include details as to the steps taken by the hospital to fill psychiatrist positions over the course of the last year.
Mercy plans to lay off 202 employees at Providence when it permanently closes all 74 of its inpatient psychiatry beds there at the end of June.
The shutdown will leave the region even more short of needed inpatient psychiatric services. Providence is the only pediatric inpatient psychiatric unit in the region.
Mercy filed a WARN notice about the pending layoffs under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act with the state Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development May 1. The state Labor Department made the notice public earlier this week.
Providence Behavioral Health has a total workforce of 466 employees.
Baystate Health and Holyoke Medical Center each have their own separate proposals to build their own new inpatient psychiatric facilities with as-yet-unnamed for-profit partners. But both proposals are at least two years away from being completed.
Holyoke Medical Center plans to build a 100-bed inpatient behavioral health hospital on its existing campus.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, Holyoke Medical Center has continued to work with its partners on the design of the new behavioral health hospital on its campus,” wrote spokeswoman Rebecca MacGregor. “The finalized plans are expected to be ready for submission to local and state officials within the next two months. Once approved, the project will take approximately 14 to 18 months to complete.”
Baystate has proposed a $30 million inpatient behavioral health hospital and those plans continue to move forward. Baystate has not made final its decision on where the facility will be built.
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