AHN Westfield Memorial to pursue new “rural emergency hospital” designation, protecting health care access for Chautauqua County

WESTFIELD — AHN Westfield Memorial Hospital announced Tuesday that it intends to pursue a “rural emergency hospital” designation, meaning it will seek to transition from a small inpatient hospital to 24/7 emergency, observation and outpatient care hospital that meets specific criteria established by U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the New York state Department of Health.

The conversion would provide greater reimbursement certainty to the Westfield hospital, ensuring its long-term financial and operational stability going forward, and protecting care access for its patients in Westfield and the surrounding Chautauqua County region. Designated rural emergency hospitals (REH) are eligible for additional federal funding and higher Medicare reimbursement rates.

“The rural emergency hospital designation was built for a hospital like Westfield,” said Rodney Buchanan, DNP, administrator of WMH. “We are a vital health care access point for our community, but the vast majority of the services we provide are outpatient in nature.”

In an average year, Westfield Hospital sees thousands of patients on an outpatient or observational basis and receives nearly 10,000 emergency department visits. The hospital, however, sees just 110-150 inpatient admissions annually — or about 10-12 inpatient admissions a month. Westfield is licensed for just four inpatient beds.

“Maintaining a 24/7 inpatient unit is costly, and the expenses aren’t warranted by the volume we see at Westfield,” Buchanan said. “By converting to a rural emergency hospital, we can redirect those resources toward new programs that are a better fit for our community and retain and grow the specialties and services that are most important to our patients.”

Following the conversion, which must be approved by the New York Department of Health and will likely take effect in 2026, most patients who require overnight inpatient stay will be transferred to AHN Saint Vincent Hospital in Erie, Pa., about 35 miles away. WMH has been a satellite facility to Saint Vincent since 1999; Saint Vincent is a 348-bed hospital that provides comprehensive access to obstetrical care, cardiovascular surgery, cancer care, emergency care, neurosurgery, orthopaedic surgery, and many other advanced specialties.