St Vincent Pediatric Therapy Closing

St. Vincent is shuttering their children’s outpatient therapy program.  Michael Skehan, chief operating officer at St. Vincent Healthcare, said ending the program on March 3rd is related to the hospital’s larger three-year strategies, called Cost to Customer.  Skehan said the pediatric outpatient therapy program is annually losing $200,000, and it became necessary to make the change.

He said the decision came through a values-based discernment process, identifying that there were at least four other providers in the area, doing pediatric therapy.  Though the hospital couldn’t provide the exact number of patients receiving therapy in the program, the four therapists whose work totals that of three full-time-equivalent positions provide five treatments per therapist per day.  Many patients got the news on Feb. 1 at the Yellowstone Medical Center in letter signed by Karen Costello, senior director of clinical and support services.