Dive Brief:
Orlando Health will close Rockledge Hospital and four outpatient facilities in Brevard, Florida on April 22, just months after buying the 298-bed facility from bankrupt Steward Health Care.
The health system blamed the closure on Steward, saying in a statement that “years of neglect” had left the Rockledge’s electrical, plumbing and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems failing.
Orlando plans to demolish Rockledge and replace it with a new facility, as it would cost more to renovate and repair Rockledge than to build a hospital from the ground up, the system said.
Dive Insight:
In a multi-million deal this fall, Orlando Health purchased Rockledge Hospital — then called Rockledge Regional Medical Center — from Steward, in addition to hospitals in Melbourne and Sebastian River.
However, Orlando said it found severe systems failures after the deal closed.
It would now be unsafe to keep Rockledge open, according to the system. Orlando plans to close Rockledge as it builds a new facility, and may begin to wind down some services at Rockledge prior to April 22.
“This decision is necessary to ensure the safety of patients and team members,” Orlando Health said in a statement.
All staff in good standing will be guaranteed positions elsewhere at Orlando Health, but some roles might require commuting or relocation, a company spokesperson said.
The health system currently has over 3,000 open roles, according to the spokesperson.
Orlando Health plans to demolish Rockledge once it closes and sell the land. The system is still evaluating how to use its outpatient properties.
Stakeholders have raised concerns about conditions at the hospital for years, including broken or unavailable equipment and a bat infestation in 2022.
After Steward’s patient care ombudsman, Susan Goodman, visited the facility in July, she told the federal court overseeing Steward’s bankruptcy there were “visible HVAC and plumbing” issues.
Goodman has previously served as a patient ombudsman in more than 60 healthcare bankruptcies. Still, she was troubled by the conditions at Rockledge, calling the longstanding unaddressed issues at the hospital “unprecedented” in a July report to the court.
Multiple labs had resorted to using spot coolers for HVAC needs and plumbing issues had shut down restrooms and disrupted kitchen activities. Goodman also found multiple elevators were out of service — an issue so common The American Prospect reported workers would joke about whether there was a statue of limitations on filling a work order to get an elevator fixed.
Workers’ views toward Steward ranged from “skepticism at best to disdain at worst,” Goodman said.
Rockledge is the fourth hospital previously owned by Steward to permanently close after Steward filed for bankruptcy in May.
Steward closed Massachusetts-based Carney and Nashoba Valley Medical Center at the end of August and officially shuttered Norwood — which had not operated for years due to flooding — in November. The system cited a lack of qualifed buyers as the reason for closing the three facilities.
Steward closed Pennsylvania-based Sharon Regional Medical Center in January, also without a buyer. However, the facility will likely reopen soon if a new owner can clear health and safety hurdles set by the state.
