Sharon Regional Medical Center's emergency room is set to close at 7 p.m. Wednesday, with the entire hospital pausing all operations by 8 a.m. Friday, Nov. 6. The hospital has pointed to an unexpected staffing shortage as the reason for the emergency room shutdown, leaving Mercer County without its own hospital for the second time in under two years.
UPMC Says It's Ready to Fill the Gap
UPMC Horizon and UPMC Jameson responded directly to Sharon Regional's decision to suspend hospital services, according to WFMJ. UPMC said it would care for Mercer County through emergency departments in Farrell, Greenville and New Castle, and it operates those three emergency departments as its front line for the region. UPMC Jameson also provides round-the-clock heart attack care, while UPMC Northwest handles inpatient behavioral health services for the broader region, including Venango County.
Dave Patton said UPMC had cared for people throughout Mercer County every day and was prepared to continue doing so, per the UPMC statement relayed by the station. UPMC added that it remains committed to ensuring people have access to needed care close to home, the same statement said.
A Hospital Already on Shaky Ground
The emergency room closure caps weeks of mounting trouble at Sharon Regional. As of a Nov. 3 statement, inpatient services had already paused on Oct. 29, though the emergency department remained open and was accepting patients at that point, according to Becker's Hospital Review. That same statement came after the hospital missed two consecutive October pay cycles, with paydays scheduled for Oct. 9 and Oct. 23 both going unpaid before funding arrived to cover employees' wages.
A hospital spokesperson said at the time that Sharon Regional was exploring all available options for its future and that no final decisions had been made. Days later, the hospital framed its planned shutdown as part of a restructuring.
State and City Officials React
Tenor Health, which runs the hospital, has framed the shutdown as part of a restructuring meant to build a more sustainable, cost-effective clinical footprint going forward, according to WKBN. A spokesperson for Gov. Josh Shapiro's office described Tenor Health's debt as unmanageable.
Sharon's city manager struck a more hopeful tone, saying he remained hopeful that the restructuring could provide an opportunity to build a stronger and more sustainable future for Sharon Regional. The emergency room is expected to close at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 4, while all hospital operations are set to pause by 8 a.m. Friday, per the same report.
A Familiar Pattern for Mercer County
This isn't the first time the hospital has gone dark. Sharon Regional previously closed in January 2025 after Steward Health Care filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2024, before Tenor Health Foundation acquired the facility and reopened it as Sharon Regional Health System in late May 2025, Becker's Hospital Review reported. That earlier closure left roughly 850 employees out of work at the 80-bed hospital, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The 2025 shutdown also ended around-the-clock emergency heart catheterization care that the Post-Gazette said was not available anywhere else in Mercer County at the time. With Sharon Regional's doors set to close again this week, UPMC's emergency departments in Farrell, Greenville and New Castle are poised to become the primary option for residents needing urgent hospital care in the area.
