BEVERLY — State regulators threatened to fine Beverly Hospital last month if it closed the North Shore Birth Center before completing the required closure process.
In a letter to Beverly Hospital President Tom Sands, the Department of Public Health warned the hospital that it must continue to provide birth center services for current patients until it has completed the state’s essential services closure process.
“Failure to keep NSBC open for established patients may result in the Hospital being out of compliance with hospital licensure regulations resulting in an order to correct and subsequent imposition of fines pursuant to (state laws),” said the letter, which was signed by Stephen Davis, director of the state’s Division of Health Care Facility Licensure Certification.
The letter from Davis was dated Sept. 15, two days after a Sept. 13 email from a nurse manager telling midwives that the Birth Center would stop taking appointments on Oct. 11. The email was provided to The Salem News by the Campaign to Save the North Shore Birth Center and the Massachusetts Nurses Association.
A spokesperson for Beth Israel Lahey Health, the parent company of Beverly Hospital, did not comment directly on the warning from the Department of Public Health. The spokesperson said the Birth Center is open and continues to see established patients.
Hospital officials announced in May that they would close the North Shore Birth Center, which is located on the campus of Beverly Hospital. They later agreed to hold off on the closing after a public outcry from the community and public officials who say the center is one of the only free-standing facilities in the state where patients can give birth under the care of certified nurse midwives.
The Birth Center stopped accepting new patients after the announcement, and pregnant patients were forced to find care elsewhere. But midwives continued to see established Birth Center patients for post-partum and gynecological care.
But Esther Hausman, a midwife who works at the Birth Center, said midwives were told even those appointments would stop on Oct. 11. Hausman said hospital officials reversed that decision after advocates called to public attention on Oct. 12 that the Birth Center was closing.
Hausman, who has worked at the North Shore Birth Center for six years, said there are only about a half-dozen post-partum and gynecological patients remaining. She said midwives see them for appointments on one day per week.
“I just think the whole thing is disappointing and very sad for myself, because I really loved the job, and for the community because now there are fewer choices for midwifery,” Hausman said.
In his letter, Davis said Beverly Hospital must “ensure that the birth center has adequate trained staff available at all times to meet the needs of its patients until the Hospital has completed the essential services closure process.”
The hospital completed the first two steps of that process by notifying DPH of its intention to close the center and by holding a public hearing. The next steps require DPH to provide the hospital with a determination as to whether the service “is necessary for preserving access and health status within the hospital’s service area.” If DPH finds the service to be necessary, the hospital is required to submit a plan for assuring people access to those services. Neither of those steps have taken place yet.
In addition to the oversight by DPH, the state Attorney General’s Office is also keeping an eye on the closure process. An AGO spokesperson said the office is following the discussions about the Birth Center closely and “reviewing any implications” as it relates to a settlement the AG’s office reached with Beth Israel Lahey Health regarding the merger that formed the company in 2018.
In that settlement, Beth Israel Lahey Health agreed to maintain access for patients to “substantially similar clinical services” as before the merger.
Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.
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