Marshfield Clinic Health System Discontinue Oral Surgery

Wednesday, January 24th, 2024 -- 1:01 PM

(Catlin Shuda, USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin) Marshfield Clinic Health System will discontinue oral surgery services.

According to Catlin Shuda with USA TODAY NETWORK - Wisconsin, after sending a letter to recent oral surgery patients, the health system confirmed to a reporter Tuesday morning it would no longer provide some oral surgery services as of Jan. 31 because of an inability to meet the demand for the services.

“We have contacted our patients and urged them to work with their dentist to refer them to an alternative oral surgery provider,” said Jeff Starck, a media relations specialist for Marshfield Clinic Health System.

As of Jan. 1, the organization has only been providing oral surgery consults or procedures in Marshfield. According to the company’s website, the service was previously offered in Stevens Point and Weston.

The health system's website also features oral and maxillofacial surgeries on the same webpage, highlighting services that include treating teeth, bones, head, neck and soft tissues of the jaw and face.

Surgeries listed on this page included teeth extractions, dental implants and bone grafting, facial reconstructions after cancer, scar revision, skin cancer excision, cosmetic or plastic surgery, constructive jaw surgery, cleft lip and palate surgery and more.

Starck said Marshfield Clinic Health System continues to perform maxillofacial surgeries, treating conditions related to facial trauma and plastic surgery, as well as cleft lip and palate surgery. The organization will soon update the website to reflect the changes, he said.

The announcement to discontinue oral surgery services comes after Marshfield Clinic Health System confirmed earlier this month it is furloughing about 3% of its employees across its network, in “largely non-patient-seeing departments, including leadership roles.” Those furloughs are spread through the entire network and not limited to any one location.

Marshfield Clinic Health System has pointed to ongoing challenges in providing health care in rural areas in announcing these latest moves, including rising supply and labor costs while serving and treating patients across more than 45,000 square miles throughout the rural communities it serves.

The furlough announcement came less than two weeks after Marshfield Clinic Health System and Essentia Health announced they would not integrate their companies, ending two years of discussions. Ending oral surgery services isn’t the first recent move to pause expansions or services.

In Stevens Point, Marshfield Clinic Health System suspended its surgical services at the Marshfield Medical Center-River Region Stevens Point Campus at the end of 2023. Those surgical services have been moved to facilities with better access to resources and a broader spectrum of care, a system spokesperson said.

The health system’s Marshfield Clinic Stettin Center also recently closed, as the center operated about 1 mile from the Marshfield Clinic Wausau Center, a larger facility with more resources, the spokesperson said.

In Wisconsin Rapids, Marshfield Clinic Health System built a new hospital facility next to its existing clinic and planned to see patients beginning in June 2023. That hospital has not yet opened, and the health system said it is reviewing a timeline to open the facility.

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