Tuesday, January 11, 2000
Bethesda Oak to close doors Feb. 4
Handful of services to remain
BY TIM BONFIELD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Most major health services at Bethesda Oak Hospital, including emergency, maternity and intensive care, will close at noon Feb. 4, TriHealth officials said Monday.
The new closing date comes several weeks before a March 31 deadline set in November, when plans to close the Avondale hospital were announced.
TriHealth, which also operates Good Samaritan and Bethesda North hospitals, decided to close Bethesda Oak after watching admissions plummet more than 75 percent in 10 years and absorbing losses that nearly tripled during that period to $19 million a year.
“The transfer of patients, staff, doctors and equipment has gone more smoothly and faster than expected,” said TriHealth spokesman Jeff Blunt. Also, “Patient volume really dropped off after the announcement.”
For example, an emergency department that was seeing about 60 patients a day last fall has been seeing 35 to 40 patients a day in recent weeks.
After moving to either Good Samaritan or Bethesda North, the Bethesda Oak services that will close Feb. 4 include emergency, intensive care, maternity, surgery, cardiac catheterization, lithotripsy, endoscopy, medical oncology, sleep disorders, speech and occupational therapy, and inpatient substance abuse treatment.
Three services that still require construction will move by summer's end. Radiation oncology and a breast cancer diagnostic center will move to Good Samaritan. Bethesda Oak's infertility treatment services will move to Bethesda North.
When the moving trucks roll away, the medical activity at Bethesda Oak Hospital will be reduced mostly to a handful of diagnostic, laboratory and pharmacy services needed to support physicians who choose to stay in the two medical office buildings on campus. A free-standing hand surgery center and a work capacity center also will con tinue indefinitely.
The long-term future of the Bethesda Oak campus remains unsettled. Although city officials have said the property could be a good development site for expanding biotech companies, TriHealth has not made any decisions, Mr. Blunt said.
The goal is to make some decisions by late March, but the deadline is not firm. “There are still a lot of options on the table,” Mr. Blunt said.
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