Nonprofit Hospital System consolidates services in southeast Wisconsin

Ascension Healthcare, a large nonprofit hospital network serving 19 states, recently slashed services across southeast Wisconsin. Closures include a small hospital in Waukesha, all inpatient behavioral healthcare services—which will be centralized in Milwaukee—birthing services, and some cardiac services. These cuts, which are becoming increasingly common nationwide, isolate patients in small, rural communities from accessible healthcare and make access to life-saving care more difficult.

Interestingly, around the time Ascension announced the closure of the Waukesha hospital, they also announced a large expansion of another hospital, St. Frances Hospital. These hospital networks often close one hospital in favor of funneling recourses into another. Read more about Ascension’s closures here.