Urgent care services will close February 7 and obstetrics services will close in March at Cheboygan Memorial Hospital. The closures are part of a plan expected to save the hospital $4 million per year.

Some staff layoffs are expected from the move, but nurses will be reassigned to other hospital departments where possible, so the number of job losses has not yet been determined, said Mike Grisdale, hospital spokesman. Eight people work full time in obstetrics and seven work full time in urgent care.

Use of these hospital departments is dropping each year, Mr. Grisdale said. An aging population means projected patient numbers are not being met in these areas, and the region has stagnant population growth. Other factors impacting the hospital are the poor economy in the region and rising numbers of uninsured and under-insured patients.

Cheboygan Memorial Hospital is pursuing a merger with Northern Michigan Regional Hospital in Petoskey, but rather than an initial step toward consolidating services between the two, the move to close these departments in Cheboygan was probably inevitable anyway, Janet Weiss of Cheboygan Memorial told The St. Ignace News Thursday, January 21.

"It's a cost saving initiative we would have had to do in any circumstance," Ms. Weiss said. Obstetrics patients will be provided with a list of other physicians in the area, she pointed out. Gynecology and pediatric services, considered part of the women's health care program there, will continue in Cheboygan.

The hospital's obstetrics unit draws patients from surrounding communities, including Mackinaw City, St. Ignace, and an other areas in the Eastern Upper Peninsula, and staff there have delivered an average of 227 babies a year over the past 10 years. Last year, there were 193 deliveries.

Rod Nelson, CEO of Mackinac Straits Hospital in St. Ignace, said the closure of these services in Cheboygan isn't expected to have much, if any, impact on his hospital's patients, except for some expectant mothers who may have to drive farther than Cheboygan for deliveries. Mackinac Straits does not offer this service.

Mackinac Straits has an affiliated relationship with the Petoskey hospital, hosting some of its specialist physicians.

"We've never viewed Cheboygan as a competing hospital," Mr. Nelson said. "The move could possibly, if anything, impact the scheduling of visiting specialist physicians [from the Petoskey hospital] to our hospital or our pediatric department.

"Unfortunately, the Cheboygan closures are a reflection of the current health care and economic climate," he said. "Small hospitals like Cheboygan have to make difficult choices."

Brian Dietz, president and CEO of Cheboygan Memorial, said the cuts are necessary to ensure the hospital can remain open and viable in the long term.

The merger with Northern Michigan Regional Hospital is on track, said Mr. Grisdale, with a final agreement expected between the two hospitals by the end of March.