Elkhart General Hospital merging departments, will reassign all nursing staff affected

Officials with Beacon Health System, which owns Elkhart General and Memorial Hospital in South Bend, announced this week that an inpatient hospital unit is being disbanded and merged into two other units.

The change is part of national shift in the health care industry to treat more patients on an outpatient basis in place of inpatient hospitalization. 

"Given our goal to deliver more value for less cost, we will continue to adapt and improve how and where customers receive care," Beacon spokeswoman Heidi Prescott said. "The unit consolidation at Elkhart General is confirmation that we are actively preparing for the future."