Lake Region Healthcare is closing its Bridgeway Inpatient Behavioral Health Unit in Fergus Falls, Minn.
The organization cited several reasons for the closure, including challenges with recruiting permanent physician coverage and a narrowing demand for the unit's services, adding that an average of three of the 14 beds in the unit have been occupied at any given time, according to a Feb. 2 news release from the health system.
"Our own experience and the experience of surrounding emergency departments is that the type of inpatient services that are in the highest demand don't fall into the type of service we have offered here." Lake Region Healthcare CEO Kent Mattson said in the release.
The closure will take place over the next six weeks, with each of the employees being placed in open positions across the health system, the release said.