Cincy NAACP criticizes hospital moves

CINCINNATI (AP) — A civil rights leader says a hospital group’s plans to close two hospitals in Cincinnati will hurt health care access for low-income patients.

Cincinnati NAACP president Christopher Smitherman wrote to Mercy Health Partners about closing hospitals in two west side neighborhoods while building a new hospital in the western Cincinnati suburb of Green Township. The new hospital is set to open in 2014.

Mercy Health says it will maintain some health services in the city neighborhoods, and that the new hospital would only be about five miles away and will offer expanded services.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People leader says the moves are part of a strategy of urban divestment, which weakens safety net services for the poor.