Faced with steep financial losses, health care providers in rural areas of Washington have put some

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

services on the chopping block.

Three days before Christmas, Astria Health closed the obstetrics unit at its hospital in Toppenish on the Yakama Indian Reservation. The maternity ward was costing the hospital system $3.2 million a year — a deficit difficult to endure for a rural health care provider that lacks vast cash reserves and investments.

At the time, Astria vowed to maintain the obstetrics unit at its Sunnyside hospital, about 20 miles away. Nonetheless, the closure sparked an uproar from residents who worried about what the loss would mean for their community.

“To lose any service is an extraordinarily difficult decision,” Astria Health CEO and President Brian Gibbons told the Business Journal. “But we had to close that service to keep the other services open — the behavioral health service, the surgical services, the emergency department, the GI service, all of those things.”

Three weeks before Astria closed the Toppenish OB unit, Forks Community Hospital in Clallam County did the same. The nearest hospital with a labor and delivery ward is an hour away. In Gresham, Oregon, Legacy Mount Hood Medical Center is also asking the state to allow it to close its labor and delivery ward.

https://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2023/03/24/washington-hospitals-cut-services-financial-losses.html

[TreasonousBastard]

1. According to Wikipedia, one cruise missile costs about 1.99...

million, so we value a big blast more than women's health in the Northwest.