Panel asked to meet
in Blue Island
The letter, received Monday by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, asks that the hearing take place at St. Benedict Church, 2339 York St., Blue Island. The lawmakers did not specify a date for the hearing.
Currently, the request from the owner of MetroSouth is on the agenda for the board’s Aug. 6 meeting starting at 9 a.m. at Bolingbrook Golf Club at 2001 Rodeo Drive.
Quorum Health Corp. officials, who operate MetroSouth, announced June 11 that they will wind down operations at the 314-bed hospital, 12935 Gregory St., before the year is over if a buyer cannot be found.
Officials said it is unlikely that, even should a new operator be found, MetroSouth will continue to be a full-service hospital. There is a possibility that a new owner could continue to operate the hospital’s emergency department and maintain outpatient services, officials said.
Founded in 1905 as St. Francis Hospital, the facility was rescued from closure in the summer of 2008 when a for-profit operator bought it, renaming it MetroSouth. It was sold in early 2012 to Quorum, which at the time was a subsidiary of publicly traded Community Health Systems.
Dated June 19 and sent on the Illinois General Assembly letterhead, the letter to the healthcare board seeking that the hearing be held in Blue Island was signed by state Rep. Bob Rita, D-Blue Island, state Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, and state Sen. Emil Jones III, D-Chicago.
The hospital has about 800 employees and MetroSouth also operates six medical clinics in Chicago and south suburbs that would be affected by the closure.
In their June 11 application with the state, MetroSouth and Quorum cite large operating losses and underuse of the hospital’s facilities as factors in seeking permission to end services. Operators said that pretax losses last year totaled $8.4 million and are expected to surpass $10 million this year.
At a news conference Monday in Blue Island, Rita, who was joined by some MetroSouth employees, said it is important for members of the healthcare board “to come to Blue Island and hear for themselves what the impact this closure will have on our community.”
“The people in this community deserve to have their voices heard,” he said.
Operators said that while the hospital has 314 licensed beds, MetroSouth serves, on average, fewer than 100 patients each day.
In 2017, they said in the state filing, the hospital had about 8,400 inpatient admissions, nearly 83,400 outpatient visits and 45,500 patients were seen in the emergency department.
Rita said that 40% of ER patients are covered by Medicaid and another 40% are Medicare patients.
Officials have said they are hoping that, under different ownership, emergency services and outpatient care could continue to be provided at the hospital.
The city of Blue Island has scheduled a meeting to discuss the impact the hospital’s closing, if approved, would have. The session is being held at 1:30 p.m. July 11 at the city hall East Annex, 2434 Vermont St.
There have also been online petitions started by Rita as well as by nurses at MetroSouth which have, collectively, been signed by more than 2,500 people and are aimed at saving the hospital from closure.
Separately, Amita Health said Monday that John Baird, who previously served as MetroSouth president and chief executive, had been named CEO of Amita’s St. Joseph Medical Center on Chicago’s North Side, effective June 20.
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