Hospitals React to State Agency Report on Centegra, Mercy Plans

Centegra Health System officials downplayed a report that said a proposed 128-bed Centegra Huntley hospital does not meet state criteria and would negatively affect neighboring hospitals.

The Illinois Facilities and Services Review Board received a report from staff this week stating Centegra’s plan exceeds the recommended number of beds by 17, the state recommendation for the planning area that consists of southern McHenry County and a portion of northern Kane County.

There are hospitals within 30 minutes away that are not at capacity in terms of bed space, the report stated.

IFSRB staff had a similar finding for a proposed Mercy Health System hospital in Crystal Lake. Mercy officials were not available for comment late Tuesday.

Susan Milford, Centegra senior vice president of strategic planning, said the state agency rates the proposal on 17 criteria and Centegra received positive comments on 14 of those criteria.

“The bottom line is we are pleased with the positive findings in 14 out of the 17 (criteria). That’s really good,” Milford said. “We believe our proposal is based on the state’s own methodology.”

Centegra is looking forward to making its case at a June 28 hearing on the proposal outlined in a Certificate of Need application to the board. The review board will also hear Mercy’s CON application that day.

While Centegra downplays the report’s findings regarding the number of hospital beds, the IFSRB found 128-bed number is not needed at this time and would negatively affect and duplicate services found in six surrounding communities, including Sherman Hospital in Elgin.

The figures Centegra uses in its CON application states Huntley’s population growth will be 8 percent between 2015-2020. If the CON is approved, Centegra’s hospital would open in 2016.  Milford said the hospital would accommodate that growth.

She added that Centegra has two hospitals—in Woodstock and McHenry—that are within 45 minutes of the Huntley site, and the hospital system would not build a new hospital if it negatively affected those existing facilities.

Sherman Hospital has argued that a new Huntley hospital would be a duplication of services and negatively affect its own services. Sherman officials praised the report released Tuesday.

“The state report reflects the reality that existing regional medical centers are providing comprehensive care for residents of northern Kane and southeastern McHenry County,” Sherman Health President and CEO Rick Floyd said in a prepared statement.

Floyd said when health care services are duplicated, it leads to higher costs for all consumers. These expenditures run counter to the efforts of  health care reform, which encourages more efficiencies and more outpatient care to hold down costs, he said.