NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Residents will have a chance to speak to the possibility of North Adams Regional Hospital reopening. 

 

Berkshire Health Systems has scheduled a community meeting at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 3, at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts' Church Street Center at 265 Church St.

 

Health system officials will discuss its application for a critical access hospital designation that will allow the re-opening of inpatient beds in at its North Adams facility.

 

This project is part of BHS’s strategic plan to expand access to care and advance health and wellness for all across the region.

 

The hospital closed in 2014 for bankruptcy reasons and its assets purchased by BHS, which reopened it with a satellite emergency facility, offices for local practices and limited medical services. 

 

The health system is hoping to reopen the facility with a full emergency room and up to 25 inpatient beds, similar to its Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington. Fairview was able to obtain critical access hospital designation some years ago; the North Adams hospital's parent company, Northern Berkshire Healthcare, was unable to in the few years leading up to its bankruptcy as a way to increase Medicare/Medicaid reimbursements. 

 

BHS officials say a change rules allowed for them to apply for the CAH designation. Prior to this, NARH had been rejected for CAH status because it was within 35 miles on a numbered highway to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. Last year, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services changed that to 15 miles for hospitals on secondary roads in mountainous terrain. One lane Route 7 is now considered secondary.

 

BHS officials anticipate having inpatient services by winter, pending licensing and regulatory approval, and restoration of surgical services. 

 

Parking for the community is available behind the center and attendees should enter through the glass doors at the main Church Street entrance to the building. 

 

The meeting will focus on what a critical access hospital is, the application process for becoming a critical access hospital, and what a critical access hospital will mean for healthcare in the Northern Berkshire region. BHS is hosting this meeting so that members of the public can learn more about the planned reopening and provide input to health system representatives.