Major Atlanta hospital announces closure, drawing rebuke

ATLANTA (AP) — One of Atlanta's largest hospitals said it plans to shut down in two months after experiencing more than $100 million in losses over the past year.

WellStar announced late Wednesday that the Atlanta Medical Center will close on Nov. 1. The hospital operates a busy emergency room and is a vital health care provider for many low-income residents.

"For several years, Wellstar has continued to invest in and operate AMC with significant losses to provide more time to partner on a creative, long-term, sustainable solution for the hospital’s future,” Wellstar CEO Candice L. Saunders said in a statement.

But those efforts, including possible partnerships with government agencies, did not materialize, she said.

The announcement immediately became an issue in Georgia's contentious governor's race. It also prompted a rebuke from Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens, who told Saunders in a letter the city was blindsided by the news and needed “immediate information” about the company’s plans and what it was doing to “mitigate the enormous health and economic impacts the closure will have on our community.”

“Atlanta Medical Center is a critical element of Atlanta’s healthcare ecosystem,” Dickens said. “It serves some of Atlanta’s most vulnerable people.”

WellStar has run the 460-bed hospital since 2016, but a hospital has operated at that location in downtown Atlanta for more than a century. Its 24-hour emergency room has the highest trauma designation and can provide comprehensive treatment for heart attacks, strokes, brain injuries and other serious medical conditions.

Its closure would leave nearby Grady Memorial Hospital with the only emergency room in the city with the same designation.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams said Wednesday the closure was...