OKC Health Care Briefs April 2, 2003

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Hillcrest HealthCare System of Tulsa is closing its outpatient clinics in Tahlequah and Bartlesville, which will leave more than 400 clients - many of them children - to find new providers. The clinics will close by March 31 as part of a plan by Hillcrest to concentrate on its inpatient programs, officials said.

The Tulsa Regional Medical Center's Children's Medical Centers sent letters to clients notifying them of the closures, Hillcrest spokeswoman Sally Huggins said in a report from The Associated Press.

Mike Brose, executive director of the Mental Health Association in Tulsa, said his agency's concern is for clients' follow-up care. "This can be very …