Shriners Vote to Keep Hospitals Open but Will Charge Some Patients

All 22 charity children’s hospitals run by the Shriners fraternal organization will remain open, but some facilities will be trimmed in size and the system will eventually start accepting payments from some patients, CNN reports.

The hospital system proposed closing six of the facilities, which historically offered free pediatric care regardless of families’ ability to pay, after losing more than a third of its $8.5-billion endowment last year.

Meeting at their annual convention in San Antonio, which ended yesterday, Shriners rejected that plan but agreed on changes that hospital officials said were necessary to keep all 22 sites open, including turning some into outpatient-only surgical centers and accepting insurance from patients who have it.