Gardner, Mass.-based Heywood Healthcare has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Here are four things ASCs need to know:
1. The independent health system, which consists of Heywood Hospital in Gardner, Athol (Mass.) Hospital, Heywood Medical Group and The Quabbin Retreat, cited workforce shortages, supply chain issues and low reimbursement rates as contributing to financial instability.
2. The hospital has also undergone an electronic medical record transition while managing aging infrastructure and a construction project, a new surgical pavilion set to open in April 2024.
3. "Heywood Hospital has stood independently for 116 years, while navigating national and local challenges, which include Heywood being one of the lowest commercially reimbursed hospitals in Commonwealth. Athol Hospital has operated for 73 years, and remains a hallmark critical access hospital. Though our health system has stood the test of time, we are not impervious to financial challenges," Tom Sullivan, co-CEO of Heywood Healthcare, said in the release.
4. In May 2022, Heywood signed a nonbinding letter of intent to explore an affiliation deal with Worcester, Mass.-based UMass Memorial Health. In January, the system announced that the deal was off "given changed circumstances and the difficult healthcare environment in which we all find ourselves."