Steward Health Care System is notifying the 680 employees of Quincy Medical Center that it plans to shut down the unprofitable 196-bed hospital on Dec. 31, in what would be the largest Massachusetts hospital closure in more than a decade.
The 124-year-old hospital, which currently has only about 40 patients in its beds, will arrange an 'orderly transition' to shift patients to other area hospitals before the end of the year, said Mark Girard, president of the Steward Hospital Co., a Steward subsidiary that operates its 10 hospitals in eastern Massachusetts.
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Steward also will work to establish a 24-hour emergency operation and an outpatient urgent care center in Quincy as part of a health care delivery transition that also will include providing its longtime patients with their medical records and transporting them to a network of community health centers and other hospitals.
'Our intent is to meet the emergency needs of the community,' Girard said in an interview. 'This is about aligning the delivery system with the needs of the Quincy community.'
Girard said Quincy Medical Center's employees will continue to be paid for about 60 days and Steward will be working with two unions, the Massachusetts Nurses Association and Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union, to try to place many of them at open jobs at its other hospitals.
Steward, the for-profit health care company, that acquired the Caritas chain of Catholic hospitals in 2010, took over the bankrupt Quincy Medical Center the following year. While the new owner said it has invested about $100 million in renovations and other improvements as part of a plan to make the hospital profitable, it has continued to lose money. It lost about $20 million last year and is projected to lose another $20 million in 2014.
Girard said the Quincy hospital has been the victim of a shift of patients to outpatient services, the growth of urgent care centers, the acquisition of nearby Milton Hospital by Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Centers, and the planned takeover of South Shore Hospital in Weymouth by Partners Health Care System, the parent of Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. There are about 15 hospitals within 10 miles of Quincy.
In addition, the Granite Medical doctors group in Quincy, which is part of Atrius Health, has been referring more patients to the Beth Israel Deaconess hospital in Milton, an Atrius affiliate, he said.
'Volume is significantly declining,' Girard said. 'There has been a 19 percent decline in emergency room visits since 2012. ... It's been getting progressively worse.'
Steward in August merged two of its other community hospitals, Holy Family Hospital in Methuen and Merrimack Valley Hospital in Haverhill, under a single license. But Girard said there are no plans to close any other Steward hospital. He also said there are no current plans for the sale of the entire Steward system, which is owned by the Cerberus private equity firm in New York.
'We're not for sale,' Girard said. 'There is no imminent sale. What this does is position Steward as a stronger health system.'
Related coverage:
* Mass. hospital profits rose last year, report says
* Quincy Medical Center seeks fiscal turnaround
* Boston Capital: Steward hospital finances prompt protest
* Quincy Medical Center puts its new face forward
Robert Weisman can be reached at robert.weisman@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeRobW.
