Mercy Hospital, a historic medical center on the Near South Side, plans to close, CEO Carol Schneider announced today in a memo to employees.
Mercy also plans to close its outpatient clinics and build a new one that can treat more than 50,000 patients a year.
“We have worked hard over the past few years to put Mercy Hospital on a financially sustainable path while continuing to serve the health care needs of our community,” Schneider wrote in the memo. “But since elected state officials declined to support our south-side transformation plans in May, we made the difficult decision to close the hospital sometime in 2021.”
Schneider was not available for an interview.
Mercy was one of four financially struggling hospitals that destined to merge into a giant healthcare system. The goal was to build one to two new modern hospitals, and three to six outpatient centers that would ultimately replace the four existing old hospitals. They also included South Shore, St. Bernard, and Advocate Trinity Hospitals. The price was high – an estimated $ 1.1 billion. The four hospitals, called the South Side Coalition, asked Illinois lawmakers to cover $ 520 million from the bill over five years. They said no.
Addressing health disparities was one of the reasons behind the proposed mega merger. Mercy said that patients in the communities surrounding the hospital suffer disproportionately from chronic diseases.
And most of the patients Mercy treats are those at risk for COVID-19. Most of the patients are black, low-income, and elderly, according to state records. Blacks and Latinos in Chicago have been most of the new coronavirus dying.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has further highlighted these disparities,” Mercy said in a separate statement. In her memo, Schneider said that Mercy has not been financially stable for several reasons: an increase in demand for outpatient care that reimburses Mercy less than for more expensive hospital care; aging facilities; and ongoing financial losses.
Mercy loses about $ 4 million a month. The hospital needs at least $ 100 million in capital investments in the next five years “to maintain a safe and sustainable acute care environment,” Mercy said in the statement.
“Ultimately, change has to happen on the south side of Chicago to provide medical care, and Mercy cannot do it alone,” the statement said.
Mercy is located in the heart of Chicago, just south of downtown in the Bronzeville neighborhood. The hospital has one of the city’s most active emergency departments, with just over 50,000 visits in 2018, the latest state records show. Mercy had about 350,000 outpatient visits and almost 12,000 hospital admissions.
It is also a large employer, with nearly 1,700 workers, and is a university hospital that serves as a training ground for the next generation of doctors.
Doctors and patient advocates worry about the ripple effect of the Mercy closure. For patients, they’ll need to find new doctors and hospitals amid a pandemic that is already expanding resources for medical centers, especially safety nets that largely serve low-income people of color, like Mercy.
“Going into the winter and even next year knowing that we are going to lose a Chicago hospital that cares for populations that are at risk is really puzzling,” said Dr. Vineet Arora, associate medical director at the University. from Chicago “One of the great things is access to care. How are we going to provide equitable care to patients as a city? That is the challenge that will be put to the other hospitals. “
That includes the U de C, which is the largest health system on the south side, surrounded by much smaller and poorer hospitals.
Arora said she is concerned that Mercy may be a sign of what’s to come in Chicago and the United States (more hospital closings) How COVID-19 infuriates.
Dr. David Ansell, senior vice president of Rush University Medical Center on the Near West Side studying health equity, called Mercy’s planned closure “a tragedy.” He noted how other small hospitals on the south side have cut services, such as giving birth. Mercy filled some of those gaps, giving birth to more than 1,600 babies in 2018. She also has a strong cancer treatment program.
“The South Side in particular is … a desert of health care in terms of access, but the West Side also has many fragile hospitals and health systems,” Ansell said.
He said hospitals need more government funding and that they would likely go to the state. But amid the pandemic, Illinois leaders are predicting a massive budget hole.
“It points out to me, once again, the lack of planning that we do and the lack of support for safety net institutions in this country in general, and certainly in Illinois,” said Margie Schaps, executive director of the nonprofit organization. Chicago Health & profit. Medicine Policy Research Group. “The south side is bearing the brunt of the lack of planning.”
Mercy has a significant history in Chicago. The medical center is over 150 years old. It is where former Mayor Richard M. Daley was born.
Mercy said it plans to close between February and May of next year. Due to a change in the law, state regulators do not have the authority to stop hospitals from closing.
Kristen Schorsch covers public health on the WBEZ governance and policy team. Follow her @kschorsch.
