IU Health to close hospital services, lay off 84 in Hartford City
HARTFORD CITY, Ind. (WISH) — IU Health is closing its inpatient and emergency services in Hartford City in east central Indiana, according to a notice filed with the state government.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development on Tuesday posted a layoff notice that IU Health made to the state nearly a month ago. IU Health Blackford hospital on Nov. 3 will lay off 84 workers. The hospital is located off State Road 3 about a mile north of State Road 26.
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development received layoff notices for 1,449 people in August.
The decision will leave Blackford County without a hospital. Hartford City is about a 90-minute drive northeast of Indianapolis.
News 8 asked IU Health by email about the closing on Thursday but never heard a response.
The notice to the state says that “a new healthcare service model must be implemented” because IU Health’s “patient volume projections are not favorable.”
IU Health says in the notice that it will continue to offer outpatient services in Blackford County, but people who need inpatient care and emergency services will not have to travel to other hospitals.
IU Health says its nearest hospitals on in Muncie, about a 35-minute drive south of Hartford City, and in Portland, about a half-hour drive east of the Blackford County seat.
In its notice to the state, IU Health also said, “Although Indiana University Health Blackford Hospital (“IU Health Blackford Hospital”) does not admit, by providing this notice, that Federal WARN Act notice requirements apply to this particular employment action, we are providing this notice, as well as individual notices of pending termination of employment to the affected employees, in an abundance of caution.”
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