Oklahoma health system is shutting down hospital

For more than seven decades, the Norman Regional Hospital has served patients in downtown Norman, Oklahoma.

The Norman Regional Health System in Oklahoma is consolidating two of its hospitals, shifting acute care services to its HealthPlex campus. Its current hospital in downtown Norman will transition to urgent care and other services.

But aiming to reduce costs, the Norman Regional Health System is consolidating two acute care hospitals in the area. The Norman Regional Hospital is closing this weekend and acute care services will be moved to the Norman Regional HealthPlex. Patients are already being transferred.

With that shift, the HealthPlex campus will be renamed Norman Regional Hospital, and it will become the flagship campus and corporate headquarters for the system, starting on Sunday, July 28.

Norman Regional points to extensive improvements made to the HealthPlex campus, including a new critical care tower, a renovated emergency department and an ambulatory care building. The ambulatory care building and critical care tower will open for patients on Monday, July 29.

“This facility is equipped with cutting-edge technology, advanced medical equipment, and a design that prioritizes patient comfort and safety,” Richie Splitt, president and CEO of Northern Regional, said in a statement.

A cancer center, the OU Stephenson Cancer Center at Norman Regional, will also open at the HealthPlex campus in 2025.

The current hospital in downtown Norman, which opened 77 years ago, will instead offer urgent care services. The campus will be branded as the Porter Health Village, and it will also offer oncology and business services. The Porter Health Village will also include a new behavioral health center that is a partnership between Norman Regional and Oceans Healthcare.

Splitt said the move to consolidate acute care services at one hospital was necessary. In an op-ed for the Norman Transcript, Splitt wrote that it would be too expensive to renovate the older hospital.

“While Norman Regional Hospital on Porter Avenue boasts a remarkable 77-year legacy of lifesaving care, the cost of renovating it to meet the community’s evolving needs has become prohibitive,” Splitt wrote.

Splitt also wrote that merging the acute care services onto the HealthPlex campus will help providers and patients.

“The consolidation promises many advantages, including eliminating the need for physicians and/or patients to travel between campuses, achieving cost savings for the system, and implementing needed facility expansion and updates,” Splitt said.

Still, the move has elicited some concern from people who live in downtown Norman who relied on the hospital and the emergency room at the Porter Avenue campus, KOCO-TV reports. April Doshier, executive director of Food and Shelter Norman, told KOCO-TV that some people won’t be able to get to the new hospital as easily. "Access to emergency care is really a challenge," she said.

The health system said that the urgent care center at the Porter campus won’t turn anyone away.

Norman Regional also announced earlier this month that it is closing its Journey Clinic, which offers surgical and medical options for weight loss. The health system said July 8 that the clinic was closing in 90 days and would not be accepting new patients.

The health system pointed to a decline in surgeries, and cited the rising popularity of Ozempic and other weight loss drugs, The Oklahoman reported. Norman Regional also canceled some planned surgeries, to the dismay of some patients, according to The Oklahoman.

Norman Regional has experienced some financial difficulties in recent years. S&P Global Ratings lowered bonds for Norman Regional from “BBB+” to “BBB-” in December 2023 and said the outlook for the system was negative.

S&P pointed to Norman Regional’s “continued weakening in the hospital's financial profile,” including recent operating losses and the system’s cash on hand falling below 100 days.