A primary care facility in Galway is set to shutter by the end of the year.
On August 25th, Cate LaBarre’s husband received an email from Saratoga Hospital Medical Group informing him that the provider’s primary care facility in Galway would be closing by December 5, 2025.
In that letter, the healthcare provider, which is part of Albany Med Health System, stated they would facilitate the transfer of care to another one of their other locations.
LaBarre and her husband decided to seek primary care from a different provider, even though it will be inconvenient.
“And we have to travel 45 minutes instead of 5 minutes because I’ve been on a waiting list since last January. My husband’s been on one since last October and we haven’t gotten in with a Saratoga Hospital Primary Care in that time,” said LaBarre.
In June, Saratoga Hopsital opened a two-story medical clinic in Milton to house neurology, therapy, laboratory and primary care services under one roof.
But for LaBarre, the expansions seem to be coming at a cost to more remote facilities like the one in Galway.
“And Milton is not far for us and we do see a specialist there who moved down to Milton from Wilton. However, they don’t have enough providers so they have one provider who moved from Galway to the Milton center. But if we’re on a waitlist there’s not enough providers regardless of wherewe go. At least that’s my experience, at that may not be everyone’s. Andthey may call me tomorrow and say ‘oh look we got you in with Dr. so-and-so.’”
Saratoga Hospital on Thursday confirmed the Galway facility’s closing, adding the location “has had some persistant challenges retaining physicians and other staff due to the size of the practice and distance from the other hospital services.” They add, "As of this October, there will only be one part-time Nurse Practitioner remaining at Galway, so we have decided to close this location and offer patients the opportunity to one of our other eight primary care locations, including our recently expanded clinic in Milton."
The closure comes as rural healthcare facilities face potential headwinds as a result of the changed Medicaid reimbursement rules included in the One Big Beautiful Bill tax and spending law passed in July.
The Galway location sees roughly 2,000 patients, all of which Saratoga Hospital says have been notified of the impending closure.
