Fitzgibbon Hospital Adjusts to Economic Headwinds

December 01, 2025

Marshall, Mo. – At a time when rural hospitals in Missouri are facing unprecedented economic headwinds, the Fitzgibbon Hospital Board of Trustees, in collaboration with management, has approved cost-cutting measures expected to save more than $2 million dollars annually. The measures include the closure of two outlying primary care clinics, closure of the inpatient behavioral health unit and ceasing operations of Fitzgibbon Home Health and Hospice services. All closures for services operated by the not-for-profit hospital will be effective Dec. 31, 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. 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,” said Angy Littrell, president and CEO of Fitzgibbon.

“Unfortunately, this means some of our employees will lose their jobs, but these are difficult decisions that come after extensive analyses,” said Littrell, adding that 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. 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.”

Clinic sites and service lines ceasing operations on Dec. 31, 2025, include:

• Grand River Medical Clinic in Brunswick
• Fitzgibbon Family Health in Fayette
• The 10-bed inpatient behavioral health unit within the hospital
• Fitzgibbon Home Health and Hospice agency
• Pain clinic services provided by Wally Ralston, CRNA/DNP, which 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.

“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.”