Cottage in the Meadow, which provides inpatient hospice services in Yakima, will close this month as Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System plans to repurpose the building as a skilled nursing facility. The hospice center will cease operations on or before Aug. 21 as MultiCare pursues a certificate of need from the state to repurpose the facility as a skilled nursing facility, MultiCare communications specialist Marcus Perry said in an email.
Located at 1208 S. 48th Ave., Cottage opened as a hospice care facility in September 2012 after a 10-year community-based fundraising effort.
It was operated by then-Yakima Valley Memorial Hospital as part of its palliative services. MultiCare acquired Yakima Valley Memorial in January 2023, and Cottage in the Meadow as part of that. The hospital is now known as MultiCare Yakima Memorial Hospital.
"The current financial situation at Cottage in the Meadow is no longer sustainable," Perry wrote. "Changes in end-of-life care patient preferences and reimbursement practices have led to our resulting, ongoing operational losses for the past five years." The state Department of Health's certificate of need program requires certain health care providers to get state approval before building certain types of facilities, or offering new or expanded services.
"Pending Department of Health approval, Cottage in the Meadow will reopen as a skilled nursing facility specializing in short-term rehabilitation services, while also reserving beds for inpatien.