State audit claims 2023 maternity unit closure in Leominster was preventable

State audit claims 2023 maternity unit closure in Leominster was preventable

A STATE AUDIT of UMass Memorial Health released earlier this month by Auditor Diana DiZoglio’s office asserts that the health system should have used more than $6 million in COVID relief grants from the state to prevent its maternity unit in Leominster from closing in 2023.   The closure, which UMass Memorial attributed to workforce shortages and declining births, has since left maternity patients farther from a labor and delivery unit – resulti…