FALMOUTH – Falmouth Hospital is closing its maternity and inpatient pediatric units and both will be absorbed by Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by Cape Cod Healthcare President and CEO Michael Lauf, who cited a 10-year decline in newborn births as the reason for the move.
“This is a very specialized service,” said Lauf.
“In the industry, when you get into those numbers, more and more places are looking to consolidate to ensure they have the right physician coverage and the right nursing coverage and the right competencies institutionally.”
According to Cape Cod Healthcare, only 328 babies were born at Falmouth Hospital last year, which is a 39 percent decrease since 2009 and is consistent with regional and state trends.
The number of newborn births at Cape Cod Hospital also fell last year 11 percent to 752.
Across Barnstable County, the number of births last year dropped 12 percent to 1,515 and in Massachusetts, fell eight percent to 66,560 over the same period.
Following the same trends, the pediatric unit at Falmouth Hospital has shown a seven year decrease of 35 percent in average census to 0.42 patients per day and 97 discharges annually.
Lauf added that at the Falmouth Hospital campus, the three full-time obstetricians will continue to see patients.
Cape Cod Healthcare officials said that Cape Cod Hospital has the capacity now to absorb the cases.
The move allows nine more beds to be available, as Falmouth Hospital has 10 ICU beds and a new floor opened this week with 26 more beds that can help patients.
“This virus has made all of us look at our operations differently, where our skillset are, what our coverage looks like, how we can do it, as safely as possible,” said Lauf.
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