WARREN — Select Medical, which provides critical illness recovery care services across the U.S., has closed its site at Trumbull Regional Medical Center.

The decision to shutter Select Specialty Hospital-Trumbull was because Select Medical was informed by its host hospital — Trumbull Regional — that the downtown Warren facility would close on or around Sept. 20, according to a spokeswoman for the Mechanicsburg, Pa.-based company Friday.

Meanwhile, Mercy Health-Youngstown plans to sever ties with Select Medical for a site at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital at the end of the year, according to a Mercy Health spokeswoman, also Friday.

That move, however, according to the Select Medical spokesman, won’t result in a gap of care.

The Sept. 20 date was the planned closure date for Trumbull Regional, Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital and other affiliated satellite care centers in the Steward Health Care bankruptcy.

The closures, however, never happened because of a global settlement in the Chapter 11 case that transitioned operations of multiple Steward Health to interim managers.

An interim settlement agreement was approved Sept. 11. The final agreement was approved Sept. 17.

The broad outlines of an agreement were announced Aug. 30.

Select Medical’s 11-bed care center, which was on Trumbull Regional’s ninth floor, closed Sept. 19.

Provided there was post-intensive care unit care for critically and chronically ill patients, Shelly Eckenroth, chief communications officer for Select Medical, stated in an email.

Eckenroth said Select Medical was able to reposition all employees there and there was no gap in care.

“We have capacity to care for this patient population at our other hospitals in the market,” Eckenroth said.

When asked if Select Medical reconsidered the decision to close the Trumbull Regional site when it became known the hospital would remain open, whether it was too late to reverse course at that point or did Select Medical determine regardless the move was best for itself and its patients, Eckenroth repeated what she had stated in an earlier email.

“The decision was made based on Select Medical being informed they would close on or around Sept. 20,” she wrote.

Select Medical’s website directs referrals to facilities Select Specialty Hospital – Boardman, a standalone 45-bed facility at 8049 South Ave., and to Select Specialty Hospital -Youngstown, a 31-bed facility inside St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital, 1044 Belmont Ave.

According to Eckenroth, Select Medical is the “largest provider of critical illness recovery care … across the U.S.”

At the end of June, the company operated 107 critical illness recovery hospitals in 29 states, 33 rehabilitation hospitals in 13 states, 1,925 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 39 states and Washington, D.C, and 547 occupational health centers in 41 states.

Acute care hospitals, she stated in the email, transfer “medically-complex patients requiring extended care and recovery” to Select Medical’s specialty hospitals.

“The majority of our patients arrive unable to breathe, talk, eat, think or walk,” Eckenroth stated. “Our teams help them regain those functions and independence so they may return home and to (the) community.”

Select Specialty Hospital-Trumbull provided the same level of care, she wrote.

YOUNGSTOWN SITE

Erica Blake, director of public relations and communications for Bon Secours Mercy Health, stated in an email the health care provider has decided not to renew Select Medical’s lease for space at St. E’s when it expires Dec. 31.

The decision was made “after extensive review.” The space, she wrote, will be transformed to provide 17 more beds at St. E’s, “giving our ministry the ability to accommodate additional patients.”

She added Mercy Health is “appreciative of our partnership with Select Medical.”

Eckenroth stated in an email the move “will not result in a gap of critical illness recovery care coverage for the region as we will be expanding our beds at Select Specialty Hospital – Boardman.”

Clinical staff in Youngstown will transfer to Boardman.