Merrimack Health will close a maternity unit at its Methuen campus, the latest consolidation of maternity services in the state.
The plans, announced by the health system on Wednesday, are an effort to consolidate maternity and neonatal services across the three-campus health system, the organization said in a news release, particularly given what the system said are declining birth rates in the region and close proximity of Lawrence and Methuen campuses to one another.
“Historically, these two hospitals competed for maternity services — less than two miles apart,” said Diana Richardson, Merrimack Health CEO. “We are bringing together two trusted programs that will allow for a more seamless experience for mothers, babies, and families and greater collaboration among providers.”
The consolidation is only the latest iteration for the previous Steward Healthcare hospital, which was acquired along with the Haverhill campus by Lawrence General Hospital in October 2024. Now rebranded Merrimack Health, the system has been contemplating how to structure services since in the midst of a challenging financial environment.
Yet the closure of maternity services, widely seen as less profitable than other service lines, revives questions about the level of services necessary in certain geographies, and the consequences of maternity closures generally.
“This closure would represent the 13th such closure in little over a decade, and in every instance for those closures, the [Department of Public Health] found those units were essential to the public health of the communities they served,” said David Schildmeier, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
The maternity unit closure will shutter 24 maternity beds, and associated bassinets, as well as 10 special care nursery bassinet beds at Methuen. That care will be consolidated to an existing 33-bed maternity unit with 10 special care nursery beds at the campus in Lawrence.
Already, two-thirds of the system’s deliveries occur in Lawrence, the health system said, adding that Methuen’s delivery unit experiences fewer than two deliveries a day. There are on average only four patients currently between the two existing special care nursery units.
“Low patient volume makes it challenging for clinicians to maintain competencies, retain staff, and sustain the delivery of high-quality care,” said Dr. George Kondylis, chief physician executive at Merrimack Health.
Approximately 85 employees will be affected by the change, the hospital said most staff will be able to move into positions in maternal-child health at Lawrence or move to other positions within the Merrimack system.
Beyond the maternity unit closure, the system has proposed closing seven currently unstaffed pediatric beds at the Haverhill campus, which Richardson said haven’t been operational for years. The system has also asked state permission to transition another 20 currently unstaffed pediatric beds at Methuen to ones that care for medical/surgical patients.
“We’re trying to get [operating rooms] in Methuen back on line, and we will need the beds to support those as well,” Richardson said.
The health system filed notice of the changes with the state, kick-starting a 120-day state review.
The closure of maternity unit beds was viewed with concern by the Massachusetts Nurses Association, which represents staff at the Merrimack facilities.
Not only did it harbor doubt about whether the Lawrence facility could handle the 800 or so births that the Methuen campus handles a year, but the nurse’s union was also skeptical there were actually declining birth rates at the facilities to justify the closure.
“While a drop in census at both facilities is cited as the reason for this decision, we would argue that the drop in census has more to do with the loss of physician practices in the Methuen market and the failure to recruit new physicians to the area, as well as the impact of the Steward crisis, which caused great uncertainty in the viability of the former Steward facilities, including Merrimack Methuen,” Schildmeier said in a statement.
Jessica Bartlett can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her @ByJessBartlett.
