For the past three years, Memorial Hospital has had negative operating margins, a key profitability ratio that measures net income from operations divided by total revenue. The hospital\u2019s operating expenses exceeded its net patient and other operating revenue by $56.8 million, $42.3 million and $84.7 million, during the 2022-23, 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years, respectively.<\/p>\n
The hospital\u2019s financial pressures are likely to multiply next year, when $1 trillion in federal cuts over 10 years to Medicaid kick in under President Donald Trump\u2019s tax cut and spending bill, which was signed into law last summer.<\/p>\n
For Providence, which operates 17 hospitals in California, the estimated statewide losses from those cuts are projected to be $347 million to $381 million from 2027 to 2034, the provider said.<\/p>\n
![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TPD-L-jb1113_ayranpur_005.jpg\")
Dr. John Aryanpur, chief medical officer of Providence Medical Group Northern California, explained the decision to close the inpatient pediatric wing at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Wed., Nov. 12, 2025 in Santa Rosa. (John Burgess \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n
Dr. John Aryanpur, chief medical officer of Providence Medical Group in Northern California, said the coming years are going to be extremely challenging for all health care organizations.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut particularly those like ours that serve disproportionately rural communities and that serve the under advantaged in our communities,\u201d Aryanpur said.<\/p>\n
Altered landscape of care<\/p>\n
Providence said closure of its pediatrics ward does not mean a complete withdrawal of pediatric care. For the majority of pediatric patients, there will be no changes, the health care provider said.<\/p>\n
Providence said the hospital\u2019s emergency department will continue to provide pediatric care and pediatricians will be on staff for patients admitted to the emergency department. The hospital\u2019s labor and delivery unit and neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) will be locally staffed and led by UCSF Benioff Children\u2019s Hospital neonatologists.<\/p>\n
But Dr. Milana PeBenito, a local family medicine physician, said the impact on hundreds of families will be significant. PeBenito, a member of Sonoma County\u2019s Maternal Child, Adolescent Health Advisory Board, has been critical of Providence\u2019s closure plans since late last summer, when news of potential closure started spreading among hospital staff.<\/p>\n
At the time, PeBenito pointed out that 85% of the more than 400 pediatric admissions last year were children who were covered by Medi-Cal, the state\u2019s version of the Medicaid health coverage program for low-income people.<\/p>\n
During a recent meeting of the advisory panel, PeBenito once again raised concerns about the loss of Providence\u2019s pediatric ward, warning that Sonoma County is now left with only Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center, which is primarily a closed-network system for its members.<\/p>\n
PeBenito pointed out that under the federal 1986 Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, or EMTALA, hospitals participating in Medicare must provide emergency care to anyone seeking it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can take them to Kaiser, because of EMTALA, Kaiser has to triage and treat them, and if they need to be admitted, they have to take care of them, even if they\u2019re not Kaiser members,\u201d PeBenito said, during an interview after the advisory board meeting.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow, Kaiser is the last one standing in terms of pediatric inpatient care, and the community has the impression that if you\u2019re not a Kaiser member you can\u2019t go there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Asked about PeBenito\u2019s comments regarding possible access to Kaiser\u2019s inpatient pediatrics ward, a Kaiser representative said in an email, \u201cour emergency departments are open to all.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Kaiser](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/8fc9d7b9-c47f-58c6-b3d5-10d17f83f945.jpg\")
Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa Medical Center (Courtesy Kaiser Permanente)<\/p>\n
\u201cWe focus on supporting families from pregnancy through adolescence and being a trusted partner in their care over time,\u201d Dr. Trish Hiserote, physician in chief at Kaiser Permanente Santa Rosa, said in an email.<\/p>\n
She said Kaiser\u2019s 428 physicians and other clinicians work closely across all specialties, including pediatrics, to deliver \u201ccoordinated, high\u2011quality care.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to focus on ensuring children receive timely, appropriate care in settings designed to meet their needs,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, Hodes, the Providence chief medical officer, emphasized the financial strain now weighing on Memorial Hospital, like so many others. Memorial\u00a0can\u2019t provide \u201call levels of service to every single service line\u201d because of those mounting pressures, he said.<\/p>\n
Hodes noted the national movement toward \u201ccentralization of pediatric care,\u201d where pediatric specialists are concentrated in facilities such as UCSF Benioff Children\u2019s Hospital and UC Davis Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur community is not unique in that respect, and so we\u2019re following national trends,\u201d he said, acknowledging the trend could be \u201cchallenging\u201d for families who do not live near those facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the other hand, the concentration of care provides expertise in those centers,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
However, Dr. Deborah Britt, a pediatrician with Providence Medical Group, pushed back on any claims that consolidation of inpatient pediatric care is a positive thing rather than a loss for communities.<\/p>\n
Britt said they\u2019re closing the pediatric ward for financial reasons. \u201cAny other explanation is just a made-up excuse to soften a predetermined decision,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Britt, who has been a local pediatrician for more than three decades, said Providence\u2019s inpatient pediatric ward has averaged about 500 patients annually over the past decade.<\/p>\n
Britt, who is mostly retired but still works on a per-diem basis, said pediatricians in her office have been fielding concerns from parents with private insurance who are contemplating switching to Kaiser, which in many cases is more affordable. In the past, they\u2019ve kept their private insurance because they want to keep their Providence pediatricians, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my office, there have been a number of parents who said that,\u201d Britt said, referring to those considering switching to Kaiser. \u201cIt remains to be seen if that\u2019s what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/TPD-L-jb1113_ayranpur_011.jpg\")
Dr. John Aryanpur, chief medical officer of Providence Medical Group Northern California, explained the decision to close the inpatient pediatric wing at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Wed., Nov. 12, 2025 in Santa Rosa. (John Burgess \/ The Press Democrat)<\/p>\n
Aryanpur, the Providence Medical Group chief medical officer, said local parents considering a change of providers given Providence\u2019s pullback should know that despite the inpatient ward closure, the hospital operator is committed to continue providing pediatric care.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo that parent who\u2019s concerned about that, I would reassure them, we\u2019re going to provide care for your kids when they come to our emergency room,\u201d Aryanpur said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to arrange for excellent care for you at UCSF \u2026 We don\u2019t want you to not come to our emergency room feeling that you won\u2019t get care, because we still have the capacity to care for pediatric kids and to arrange for care.\u201d<\/p>\n
You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Less than two weeks from now, Providence Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Sonoma County\u2019s largest hospital, will stop admitting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153237,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[97,252,253,9537,236065,11748,94080,5414],"class_list":["post-523810","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health-care","tag-health","tag-health-care","tag-healthcare","tag-kaiser-permanente","tag-pediatric-ward","tag-providence","tag-santa-rosa","tag-sonoma-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523810","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523810"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523810\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153237"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523810"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}