UPDATE: Board Denies Huntley, Crystal Lake Hospital Proposals

UPDATE 5:15 P.M.

The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted down a proposal for a 128-bed Centegra hospital in Huntley in a 4-4 vote. 

The proposal needed five votes to pass.

The vote concluded a day-long hearing in Bolingbrook where the review board heard testimony supporting and opposing the Huntley hospital proposal as well as a separate proposal for a Mercy Medical Center hospital in Crystal Lake. 

The board also denied the Mercy proposal, 6-2. 

Check back to Patch.com later for a full story. 

UPDATE 1:33 P.M.

For the second time in recent months, the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted down a Mercy Medical Center proposal for a new hospital in Crystal Lake. 

The vote came around 1:30 p.m. today during the review board meeting at Bolingbrook Golf Club, 2001 Rodeo Drive in Bolingbrook. 

The state board voted 6-2 against the proposed 70-bed hospital, which was to be located on Three Oaks Road in Crystal Lake.

Centegra’s certificate of need application to build a 128-bed, $233 million hospital at Haligus and Algonquin roads is expected to be heard next at 2:30 p.m. 

 to request a 128-bed hospital. That proposal was denied 8-1 at the time. Centegra also proposed a 128-bed hospital — the same as its proposal today — in Huntley, which was denied 8-1 by the board in June. 

The Northwest Herald has live-streaming video available on its site from the hospital hearings.

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It’s decision day — again — for the proposed Centegra Hospital in Huntley and Mercy Health Care Hospital in Crystal Lake.

The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board is scheduled to reconsider both plans starting at 9:30 a.m. today at Bolingbrook Golf Club, 2001 Rodeo Drive, Bolingbrook.

Centegra’s certificate of need application to build a 128-bed, $233 million hospital at Haligus and Algonquin roads is expected to be heard first, according to the agenda.

The Crystal Lake Mercy Medical Center proposal will follow.

“Our proposal has not changed,” Susan Milford, Centegra’s senior vice president of strategic marketing and planning, said in a recent . 

While Centegra’s proposal has not changed, Mercy Health Care scaled back original plans to build a 128-bed hospital to a 70-bed hospital, according to . Mercy wants to build a hospital on Three Oaks Road in Crystal Lake.

A Nov. 28 story in the Daily Herald cited a state analysis, released that week, showing McHenry County does not need another hospital. The report could spell trouble for the two projects and is welcomed by Sherman Hospital in Elgin and Advocate Good Shepherd in Barrington, which have contested the new hospital proposals, the story said.

The review board has not approved a new hospital in 30 years. In June, the board voted 8-1 against both proposals.

after that decision, Centegra officials said they are hopeful the board will reconsider a consultant’s projections showing Huntley will experience rapid growth in the next few years, creating a greater need for a new hospital.

Related Centegra/Mercy hospital stories: