Opposing Hospitals Seek Kane County's Support

Kane County officials tabled a resolution Tuesday that would have opposed Centegra Health Care’s planned Huntley hospital, with board members asking for time to explore the issue.

Centegra Health System officials made their arguments for the proposed $223 million Huntley hospital at the board meeting with support from a Huntley village trustee and a Sun City resident.

“I respectfully request the county board to either vote for this worthy project or take the position of neutrality on this project,” Huntley Trustee Harry Leopold said.

Centegra has been seeking support for its plan and a Certificate of Need (CON) application it filed with a state board, the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. The review board makes the ultimate decision to grand a CON but considers community support for projects in making their decision.

So far, Centegra has support from Huntley, the McHenry County board, the Huntley Fire Protection District and Algonquin Fire Department.

The Woodstock-based hospital faces opposition from Mercy Health System, which wants to build its own $200 million hospital in Crystal Lake. Mercy, too, received McHenry County’s support.

However, in Kane County, it’s a bit different. Northern Kane County already has two hospitals, Sherman and Provena Saint Joseph, that both serve Huntley.  Sherman officials spoke Tuesday against Kane County supporting Centegra’s plan.

“A hospital in Huntley would hurt both of your Kane County hospitals,” by taking away patients and creating a duplication of services, Sherman CEO Rick Floyd said.

One of Centegra’s main arguments, that it is filling a need for bed space, is not valid, he said. Centegra officials say the 128 bed, Level 2 trauma hospital would fill the state’s need for more beds.

 Floyd said Sherman and Saint Joseph had 154 open beds, combined, in January, Floyd said. He said the 128 figure is not reliable and the state calculated the data before the housing and economic crash. The state is currently developing new guidelines for open beds, he said.

Additionally, Centegra-Huntley would affect Sherman’s ability to provide care to the underserved and uninsured, Floyd said. Hospitals get more funds from health insurances than Medicaid, he said. Huntley and surrounding communities are more affluent and have a population that is more likely to have insurance than populations in Elgin, he said.

Huntley is “a terrific community, we’ve served it since the community was founded and we’d like to serve it for some time to come,” Floyd said.

Michael Eesley, Centegra’s CEO, told board members the new hospital would “not compete but will complement other hospitals in the region.”

Following Tuesday’s meeting, Eesley said there is a need for additional beds in the region. Even if the state modifies its calculations, there will continue to be a need, he said.

He criticized Sherman’s argument about underserved and uninsured populations, saying Sherman left the east side of Elgin to be closer to more affluent neighborhoods. Sherman build a multi-million hospital on Randall Road which opened in Decemeber 2009. Provena opposed that plan.

“We are not abandoning any of our communities,” Eesley said. “I find it appalling they (Sherman officials) are taking a shot at our project.”

Kane County board members referred the issue to its Public Health Committee, where it will be included in the April 12 agenda. Any letters of support must be filed with the review board by April 20.