April 16, 2025
Recent weeks have brought attention to a pending downgrade of services at Framingham Union hospital. Hospital administrators intend to close the hospital’s Level IIB Special Care Nursery, which triggers the Essential Service Closure process through Massachusetts’ Department of Public Health (DPH). Administrators intend to maintain the Level 1A Nursery services but some feel that this is insufficient.
In a letter to the state Department of Public Health in March 2025, hospital management cite declining utilization rates of the special care nursery as well as general neonatal workforce shortages. The pending reduction of services for neonatal patients and families brings up practical and ethical concerns. Comparable care is accessible at other hospitals in the region but would require families and their infants to travel farther to seek care, and risks overloading the capacity of those facilities. Some are concerned that this change, combined with other recent changes by the hospital, could have a domino effect and result in the closure of maternity services entirely.
Currently Framingham awaits a decision from DPH, which has until April 24 to make a determination as to whether other services in the region can sufficiently compensate for the pending service closure.