Cuts coming to Somerville Hospital, paper reports

Somerville Hospital is curtailing some services as the healthcare system it belongs to faces financial problems.

Somerville's intensive care unit will be closed, surgery will be performed only between 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., and the Somerville Transitional Care Unit, which offers a bridge between surgery and home for recuperating patients who need skilled nursing, will be closed, according to an article in the Somerville Journal. Forty-one jobs will be cut, including 32 in transitional care.

Somerville Hospital is part of publicly funded Cambridge Health Alliance, which also includes Cambridge Hospital and Whidden Hospital in Everett. The group is facing a potential loss of $25 million to $35 million for the year, the Globe reported last month. About 300 job cuts, or about 9 percent of its workforce, were predicted. Hospital leaders said the system has suffered under the state's new healthcare law because it still provides free care for uninsured patients while receiving lower compensation for it.

ICU patients will be cared for at Cambridge Hospital, where after-hours surgery will be performed. Patients who need transitional care will be sent to facilities in surrounding towns outside the alliance, the Somerville Journal story said.