MelroseWakefield Healthcare announced the changes to the Transcript, hospital staff and city officials on Nov. 7.

MelroseWakefield Healthcare announced plans on Nov. 7 to close the emergency room at Lawrence Memorial Hospital and expand urgent care services at the facility, dispelling some fears in Medford that the building would be abandoned or closed.

The hospital will offer urgent care services for extended hours, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., every day of the year, including holidays. Though the hospital will no longer house an ER, it will be staffed with emergency medicine providers, MelroseWakefield executives told the Transcript.

“That’s a higher level of competency and expertise than one sees in urgent care in this region,” said Sue Sandberg, CEO of MelroseWakefield Healthcare and Executive Vice President of parent company Wellforce.

The urgent care services available at the hospital will cost less than a trip to the ER, according to Sandberg. The expanded hours for the hospital will aim to make urgent care a more accessible option for patients facing non-life-threatening ailments outside of typical business hours.

“The goal is to keep people out of the hospital,” said Lori Howley, chief marketing officer for MelroseWakefield Healthcare. “The goal is to keep them healthy, provide easy access to wellness and support and preventive care, and when they do need services, to do it in the way that’s most supportive to them.”

The company informed hospital staff and city officials of the changes, which will go into effect in approximately four months, on Nov. 7. In a message sent to MelroseWakefield staff, Sandberg wrote that the changes come partially in response to declining visits at the hospital's existing emergency facility, with many of those visits better suited for an urgent care setting.

“With seven other emergency departments within the greater vicinity, the Lawrence Memorial Hospital satellite emergency facility in FY18 was the least used emergency site in the state,” Sandberg wrote.

The company says it has no plans to lay off existing staff at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in expanding urgent care services. All of the specialty services at the hospital, including a behavioral health program and an endocrinology program, will remain, with the exception of the ER.

Steven Sbardella, MD, the company’s chief medical officer, said that the company will look to educate the community about the services available in an urgent care center as opposed to an ER. The center will provide care to people of all ages and will treat cuts, small fractures, allergies, flu and more. It will also offer x-rays, referrals to specialists, lab tests and prescriptions.

“With the urgent care, we won’t be accepting ambulances. It’ll just be care that can be delivered as if you drove up to an urgent care center,” Sbardella said. “Part of that will be educating the population about the kind of care that should go there and shouldn’t go there.”

In addition, more physicians, especially those specializing in internal medicine and family medicine, will be added to the hospital, as well as specialty programs including diabetes care and women’s health.

“We’re going to have a concentration of primary care and specialty care, and you know there’s going to be surgeons because we’re building a surgery center,” Sandberg said.

MelroseWakefield Healthcare has faced criticism in recent months from city officials and community members regarding its communication of future plans for the Lawrence Memorial Campus. The company announced plans to build a new, $16 million ambulatory surgery center (ASC) in April on the campus, which will provide outpatient care and one-day surgeries.

More recently, the company has promised to include community input in building the ASC by creating a small working group and keeping interested residents up-to-date on the ASC via an e-list. Representatives from the company will also attend the Nov. 27 City Council meeting to speak about the changes to the existing facility and updates to the proposed ASC, if applicable.

Company officials anticipate that the proposed ASC and the expanded urgent care services at the hospital will collaborate and work "synergistically."

“It should be easy for patients to transfer between [them],” Howley said.

The company has notified the Department of Public Health of its plans to file a request for a change in emergency services, which will prompt a 90-day review process from the state.