New LifeCare Hospitals LLC will close its long-term acute care facility in Wilkinsburg in September, four months after the hospital’s Plano, Texas-based corporate parent filed for bankruptcy.
The closure will affect approximately 236 jobs — 144 full-time and 92 part-time and casual — according to New LifeCare spokeswoman Rebecca Kirkham, who said in a prepared statement that patients are being moved to other facilities. New LifeCare filed for bankruptcy in May under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, which shields debtors from creditors to allow financial reorganization.
New LifeCare will continue to operate a behavioral health hospital at the Wilkinsburg campus, Ms. Kirkham said, and will maintain its long-term acute care unit at Allegheny Health Network’s Allegheny Valley Hospital in Natrona Heights.
LifeCare’s long-term acute care unit at AHN’s Bellevue campus recently closed.
The decision to close the long-term acute care hospital in Wilkinsburg came after “years of increasing regulatory pressure, declining volumes and decreased reimbursements,” Ms. Kirkham said in a statement. The 85-bed specialty hospital operates under capacity, with an average of just 18 patients per day.
New LifeCare’s bankruptcy in May affected 17 facilities in nine states, including the one in Wilkinsburg. The closing comes amid criticism of the long-term acute care hospital model as unnecessarily costly.
Kris B. Mamula: kmamula@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1699
First Published: July 15, 2019, 9:38 p.m.
