Cottage Hospital has suspended operations days before its Medicare program was to be terminated because of numerous violations.
Signs posted on the doors of the hospital on Jan. 8 read the hospital was temporarily closed.
Employees received an email from CEO and owner Sanjay Sharma stating it was necessary to suspend operations because the hospital is losing Medicare and Medicaid funding.
Cottage was notified in December by the Department of Health and Human Services it would no longer receive those payments as of Jan. 14.
That followed an investigation revealing the hospital was not in compliance on Medicare conditions including governing body, patient rights, physical environment and nursing services.
The formerly non-profit Cottage Hospital and Clinics were acquired by the for-profit Community Health Systems in 2004.
In 2015, CHS spun off some of its facilities, including Cottage, into Quorum Health Corporation.
Quorum was in bankruptcy proceedings when it sold Cottage to Sharma in 2020.
Cottage Hospital has been serving Galesburg and the surrounding communities since 1893.
This is a developing story.