Hillcrest CEO confirms children's outpatient clinic will close

TULSA - The CEO of the Hillcrest Healthcare System has confirmed to 2News that an outpatient clinic within the children's medical center will close in a couple of months.

"We're in the process of evaluating and have made a decision to close one of our outpatient clinics related to Children's Medical Center and that's the Developmental Pediatric Clinic," said Kevin Gross, CEO of Hillcrest Healthcare System.

Gross made the comments after 2News first reported Thursday that major changes were coming to the healthcare system.

Gross said the decision came down to a couple of factors.

"The reason for that is patient demand over the last couple of years [and] obviously looking at the overall financial performance," said Gross.

Gross said about 1,400 children have visited the outpatient clinic in the last two years.

Gross said that was half of what a full practice would see during the same timeframe.

Wilma Reed's two-year-old is one of the clinic's patients.

Reed learned about the clinic's upcoming closure during her last visit.

Reed said her little girl was suppose to start a special diet on Thursday that would help her control seizures.

"They told me we can't even start it now because they're not going to be there," said Reed.

The news took her by surprise.

"It's very scary. We've came so far to just get dumped? That's how I feel," said Reed about the closure.

Gross said parents have no reason to be concerned about finding another facility for their children to receive treatment.

"We're going to be working with the patients that currently see these physicians to transition them to other providers," said Gross.

Gross said the hospital system was not ready to announce the closure, but rumors started swirling and information, some of it incorrect, was leaked to some parents.

"We weren't quite ready to make this announcement and I think it could have been handled better for sure," said Gross.

The outpatient developmental pediatric clinic is the only clinic that will close.

All inpatient services, including the Kaiser Rehab Center, will remain open.