St. Francis Hospital in Blue Island to close
This surely can't be good news for health-care in Illinois. From the Tribune today...
Unable to find a buyer, the parent of St. Francis Hosptial & Health Center said the Catholic hospital in Blue Island will close at a yet to be determined date.
St. Louis-based SSM Health Care said the hospital faced "mounting financial losses" and "exhausted all other options -- including giving the hospital away for free," the hospital operator said in a statement.
SSM said the hospital will remain open until SSM "receives necessary approvals for its plans from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and the Illinois Department of Health."
The St. Louis-based Catholic owner of St. Francis Hospital & Health Center in south suburban Blue Island said it plans to sell the 410-bed non-profit hospital to focus on other areas of the nation where it has a larger presence.
SSM Health Care has said it tried to strengthen St. Francis by expanding to Orland Park with a second Chicago-area hospital, but those plans were rejected two years ago by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.The planning board, which regulates hospital construction in Illinois, said the Orland Park area already was well-served by hospitals that had excess bed capacity, so there was no need for a hospital in the growing suburb. Oak Brook-based Advocate Health Care, too, was denied an application to build in the Orland Park area.
SSM officials at the time said they "believed this [Orland Park] facility would not only serve that community but would also strengthen St. Francis' ability to serve the people of Blue Island."
As health insurance companies and government health insurance programs squeeze what they pay hospitals, hospital operators increasingly look to consolidate to gain economies of scale in the regions where they operate.
Hospital operators also try to expand to wealthier suburbs such as Orland Park to attract more commercially insured patients who can pay their bills more easily and provide a steadier flow of revenue. The facilities tend to fare better than hospitals like St. Francis, which serve an increasing number of uninsured patients.
In part because of the rising number of uninsured, St. Francis lost more than $40 million during the past five years, SSM has said.
8 comments:
A sad announcement. Both my children were born at St. Francis, thirty plus years ago. It was a good hospital then.
The hospital used to be great years ago. The staff help and doctors really got much worse, from their attitudes to experience.
If you need a good hospital, you should really travel downtown. Unfortunately you have to travel a bit however, it's worth your life isn't it?
travel downtown ...? what an idiot. this is the handwriting on the wall. gas prices too high to travel downtown, too far to travel in an emergency, too many uninsured too many unemployed the hospital downtown will reuce services and close if the main problem is not corrected. The gov & insurers are squeazing hospitals and doctors into a corner. Who is growing richer? Oil companies, insurance companies, gov spending at the expense of your life. Oh you are not concerned because it hasn't hit you yet? Just wait a minute and see.
This is a sad day for Cook County South. The ramifications are real and dire. Increased transport times, busier ED's in surounding Hospitals, 1400 employess with out jobs, and underserved poor people that have again been abandend by society. The politicians need to wake up and pay there bills. Medicaide and Medicare bills to SFH unpaid since October of 2007. No plan to provide more urgent care facilities for non emergent patients clogging up the ED's! It's the sign of things to come.
There is no question that SSM has dumped St. Francis and its 1400 employees in favor of new SSM Hospitals in the St. Louis area - where SSM's Corporate Headquarters are located. The fact is that they just don't care about St. Francis, even though cash from the "good ole' days in the high-reimbursement 1980's was used to build SSM into what they are today. SSM obviously lost sight of their mission - To reveal the healing presence of God. They are more concerned about their Corporate profits and bloated salaries. St. Francis should be bought by the Docs, converted into a for-profit model charged with turning away anybody who can't pay their bills, scaled down to 125 beds with a strong O/P presence and run like the business they are. NIKE would neve be run by a Nun (Sr. Mary Jean Ryan). Microsoft wouldn't think of running like St. Francis was. They should sever all ties with Corporate SSM, who has milked St. Francis for so long there's nothing left but the dust they left behind. Who's going to be the last one to turn out the lights in 59 days at St. Francis?
My sister, brother and I were all born at St. francis and it is such a shame to see it close. Our doctor was from St. francis hospital and he used to make house calls. It is a shame really. My aunt purchased baby blankets a few years ago for her kids as they were born at St. Francis as well. Does anyone know if you can get these anymore?
When I found out that St. Francis was closing, I was dissapointed. I am pregnant and was expecting to deliver at St. Francis in June. It looks as though I may have to choose another hospital, but that is where I wanted my delivery. My doctor is associated with St. Francis and I guess wherever she goes, I may also because I love my doctor!
Not only has Sister Mary Jean Ryan drained this hospital, she's paying her executives bonuses to hang out until it's done. Oh and what about that hospital she's putting up in Janesville! Maybe she'll change her mind with GM's latest news because there will be more uninsured there too.
What a great catholic model she turned out to be.
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