Health Care
CHI Franciscan Will Shutter Regional Hospital in Burien
The hospital's operations will be merged with CHI's Highline Medical Center
By Bill Conroy October 7, 2019
Regional Hospital in Burien, owned by the CHI Franciscan health care system, is being shut down and its operations consolidated with its sister facility in Burien, Highline Medical Center.
The merger will result in about 86 employees at the 26-bed Regional Hospital being laid off, according to a Warn Act notice filed by the health system with the state. Regional is a nonprofit, long-term, acute-care hospital that specializes in providing extended care to critical-care patients transferred from intensive-care units statewide. CHI Franciscan’s website describes it as the only such facility “in a five-state region.”
Highline Medical Center is a 133-bed acute-care hospital that offers a family birth center, cancer center, a full range of orthopedic services as well as 24/7 emergency care.
“CHI Franciscan is working to merge Regional Hospital with Highline Medical Center in order to better serve the growing needs of greater South King County and more fully integrate care for our patients,” Cary Evans, vice president of communications and government relations at CHI Franciscan, says. “We are talking with the state about how best to consolidate operations following the merger, and we are working with employees of Regional Hospital to find new positions across our eight hospitals and over 200 clinics.”
This past August, another hospital system also merged two of its facilities. Kindred Hospital Seattle – Northgate, a 30-bed transitional-care facility, announced plans to lay off 166 people permanently starting Aug. 9 as part of a “closure layoff” revealed in a notification filed with the state of Washington under the federal WARN Act. That hospital closure is part of a larger plan to consolidate the Northgate hospital at 10631 8th Ave. with Kindred’s other transitional-care facility in Seattle, Kindred Hospital Seattle – First Hill, a 50-bed facility at 1334 Terry Ave.
“We will be closing Kindred Hospital Seattle – Northgate and consolidating services into Kindred Hospital Seattle – First Hill,” Doug McCoy, market chief executive officer for Kindred Hospitals, said at the time. “If any patients need continued care after the hospital closes, we will take every step necessary to help them in relocating, including arranging for requested transfers and paying for any expenses.”
McCoy said Kindred planned to assist employees affected by the layoffs in their efforts to seek new employment. The Kindred facilities in Seattle are part of the Kindred Healthcare system, based in Louisville, Kentucky, which has annual revenue of $3.3 billion and operates health care facilities in 45 states employing some 35,700 people.
CHI Franciscan is a nonprofit health care system affiliated with Catholic Health Initiatives, based in Englewood, Colorado, and employs nearly 12,500 people systemwide.