Last week, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health responded to a plan from Mercy Medical Center to close down bed operation at Providence Behavioral Health Hospital in Holyoke.
Mercy Medical wants to discontinue operation of 50 psychiatric service patient beds and 24 pediatric beds, effective June 30th.
The state is ruling that the services are essential and is requiring the hospital to prepare a plan for how access to the beds for residents in the service area will be maintained.
The bed closures bring with them the planned layoffs of over two-hundred employees at Providence Hospital.