The Fitzgibbon Hospital Board of Trustees has announced that the hospital will close the Fitzgibbon Family Health in Fayette at the end of this year as part of a cost-cutting plan aimed at saving more than $2 million annually. The hospital is based in Marshall. It took over the Fayette clinic, located in the Keller Building, in 2014.

The measures include the closure of two outlying primary care clinics, the hospital’s inpatient behavioral health unit, and the cessation of operations for Fitzgibbon Home Health and Hospice services. All closures for services operated by the not-for-profit hospital will be effective Dec. 31, 2025.

The Howard County Commission on Tuesday confirmed the hospital’s lease at the Keller Building expires at the end of 2025.

“Fitzgibbon is not unlike many other rural hospitals in Missouri in that the cost of providing care is not covered by the reimbursements we receive,” said Angy Littrell, president and CEO of Fitzgibbon. “We’ve been operating at significant losses since the COVID shutdown, due to inflation, increased staffing costs, and reimbursements from governmental payers that fall short. These cost-reduction measures are absolutely necessary to meet the obligations of our fiduciary lenders and bondholders and to ensure continued operations at the hospital.”

Littrell said the measure will cost some employees their jobs, claiming the decision was made after extensive analysis. She said management had worked with consultants and also had benchmarked other hospitals. “We closed the Intensive Care Unit in 2023 and have been ‘right-sizing’ our provider staff in some service areas, but it still wasn’t enough,” she said. “This contraction in our service lines helps ensure we can operate key services going forward. Our thoughts are with every affected employee, who will be provided support and assistance by the human resources department.”

Other clinic sites and service lines ceasing operations on Dec. 31, 2025, include Grand River Medical Clinic in Brunswick, the 10-bed inpatient behavioral health unit within the hospital, Fitzgibbon Home Health and Hospice agency, and the pain clinic services provided by Wally Ralston, CRNA/DNP, who will have the opportunity for care continuation for a period of 90 days.

The contraction in services impacts approximately 30 staff members across the organization. The Fayette clinic has one part-time provider and two others with minimal hours per week, according to a hospital spokesman. While their employment will not be transferred within the Fitzgibbon system, he said that “any of the staff will be encouraged to apply for other open positions within the organization.”

The Fayette clinic treats around 210-230 patients a month, and the spokesman said that while they are welcome to continue care at any other Fitzgibbon locations, they will be asked where they would like their care transitioned.

“We will support them in transitioning their records to their provider of choice,” he said.

“These are not easy decisions, but it is our goal to make Fitzgibbon financially stable to be able to provide essential health care services to our community in the times ahead,” said Bud Summers, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at Fitzgibbon. “These cost reductions will allow us to continue to provide reduced inpatient services, treatments in our Community Cancer Center, diagnostic procedures such as MRI and other high-tech radiology and colon cancer screenings, as well as orthopedics, therapy, and primary care, which all are so vital to our community. We don’t want to lose access to our core services, so that’s our aim.”