Four struggling South Side Chicago hospitals plan to merge into a single health care system with one new, state-of-the-art hospital and a network of community health centers under a $1.1 billion plan announced Thursday.
Advocate Trinity Hospital, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, South Shore Hospital and St. Bernard Hospital serving some of the city’s most impoverished communities had been negotiating the transformation since last year, guided by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, overseer of the Medicaid program poorer patients rely on.
Four struggling South Side hospitals that had tentatively agreed to combine into one health care system are abandoning their billion-dollar plan after hospital officials say state legislators failed to approve crucial funding. […]
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Illinois health regulators denied a Chicago hospital s bid to close its doors due to increased costs and lower utilization. All six board members present at Tuesday s meeting voted against closure.
The plans to end services at Mercy Hospital and Medical Center on Chicago s South Side drew outcry from the community as the facility serves some of the city s most vulnerable residents as a safety net provider. The closure plans were also ill received as it coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been particularly deadly for people of color.
Mercy officials said they were disappointed with Tuesday s outcome.
State board votes against Mercy Hospital closure chicagotribune.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from chicagotribune.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Local officials, community activists and Mercy Hospital and Medical Center employees attend a protest outside Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Bronzeville on Sept. 3. They demanded Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Mayor Lori Lightfoot keep the hospital open, saying its closure will further increase the inequities in Black and Brown communities. The facility is set to close in 2021.
Pat Nabong/Sun-Times
Talk of closing Mercy Hospital next year couldn’t have come at a worse time, with the city fighting a pandemic that acutely affects the South Side, a place where health care choices are already too few and far between.