Skip to main content
Subscribe
  • Sign Up Free
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • News
    • Current News
    • Providers
    • Insurance
    • Government
    • Finance
    • Technology
    • Safety & Quality
    • Digital Health
    • Transformation
    • ESG
    • People
    • Regional News
    • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Patients
    • Operations
    • Care Delivery
    • Payment
    • Midwest
    • Northeast
    • South
    • West
  • Blogs
    • AI
    • Deals
    • Layoff Tracker
    • HIMSS 2023
  • Opinion
    • Breaking Bias
    • Commentaries
    • Letters
    • From the Editor
  • Events & Awards
    • Awards
    • Conferences
    • Galas
    • Virtual Briefings
    • Webinars
    • Nominate/Eligibility
    • 100 Most Influential People
    • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
    • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
    • Excellence in Governance
    • Health Care Hall of Fame
    • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
    • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
    • Top Innovators
    • Diversity in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
      • - Leaders to Watch
    • Women in Healthcare
      • - Luminaries
      • - Top 25 Women Leaders
      • - Women to Watch
    • Digital Health Transformation Summit
    • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
    • Leadership Symposium
    • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
    • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
    • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
    • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
    • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
    • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
    • - Hospital of the Future
    • - Value Based Care
    • - Hospital at Home
    • - Workplace of the Future
    • - AI and Digital Health
    • - Future of Staffing
    • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
  • Multimedia
    • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
    • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
    • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
    • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
  • Data & Insights
    • Data & Insights Home
    • Hospital Financials
    • Staffing & Compensation
    • Quality & Safety
    • Mergers & Acquisitions
    • Data Archive
    • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
    • Surveys
    • Data Points
  • Newsletters
  • MORE+
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
    • Media Kit
    • Jobs
    • People on the Move
    • Reprints & Licensing
MENU
Breadcrumb
  1. Home
  2. Mergers & Acquisitions
January 23, 2020 10:30 AM

Four Chicago hospitals to merge

STEPHANIE GOLDBERG
  • Tweet
  • Share
  • Share
  • Email
  • More
    Reprints Print
    Advocate Trinity/Google Earth
    Clockwise from top left: Advocate Trinity Hospital, St. Bernard Hospital, South Shore Hospital and Mercy Hospital & Medical Center.

    Four financially struggling hospitals have agreed to merge in hopes of transforming care for Chicago residents on the South Side.

    Advocate Trinity Hospital, Mercy Hospital & Medical Center, South Shore Hospital and St. Bernard Hospital plan to create a single system with one leadership team. Crain's reported late last year that a deal was in the works.

    The combination aims to bolster the precarious finances of the safety-net hospitals that treat large numbers of low-income patients on Medicaid, which pays less than Medicare and commercial insurance.

    With an estimated $1.1 billion investment—including private donations and government dollars intended for hospital transformation—the plan is to build at least one new hospital and open up to six new community health centers that would expand access to preventive services and address social determinants of health, such as food insecurity, the four hospital leaders said today.

    "This is the right thing to do," Mercy CEO Carol Schneider said. "We can't meet the community's needs on our own. Our current state is not sustainable and the people in our communities truly deserve this transformative approach."

    The average life expectancy in Englewood—where St. Bernard is located—is about 60 years, about 30 years lower than the average life expectancy in Streeterville, according to a recent analysis by NYU researchers.

    The new system's CEO and leadership team, to be announced later this year, will ultimately determine what the entity looks like. But based on current patient volumes and other data, one idea is to build either a 500-bed hospital or two 250-bed hospitals, St. Bernard CEO Charles Holland Jr. said.

    Meanwhile, such data will also help identify future care sites and service lines, like behavioral health and violence recovery, the leaders said. They added that the new care sites—along with new job opportunities—are expected to open before any existing facilities are shuttered, noting that it's too early to say which facilities might close.

    "Our focus really has been on creating a new healthcare infrastructure for the South Side," Holland said. "We recognize that it doesn't make sense to keep pouring millions of dollars into these aging, outmoded, out-of-date healthcare facilities."

    South Shore and St. Bernard are among the last remaining independent hospitals in the Chicago area, while Advocate Trinity and Mercy are owned by Downers Grove-based Advocate Aurora Health and Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, respectively—two of the largest nonprofit hospital chains in the country.

    However, all four of the hospitals are operating in the red, with 2018 net losses ranging from $1.3 million at South Shore to $68.3 million at Mercy, according to data compiled by Modern Healthcare Metrics. Coming together could enable the institutions to generate economies of scale, improve bargaining power with insurers and suppliers, eliminate redundant expenses and cut back duplicative or underutilized capabilities.

    The combination could mean even more changes for Catholic hospitals St. Bernard and Mercy, which operate under the Ethical & Religious Directives, or ERDs, for Catholic Health Care Services. While the new entity will not be a Catholic system, discussions about the ERDs are ongoing, Holland and Schneider said.

    The combination has been supported by the Illinois Department of Healthcare & Family Services, which oversees Medicaid.

    "The challenges in our healthcare delivery system require public and private partnership," the department said in an emailed statement. "We are encouraged by this group's goals to address inequities in healthcare access on the South Side of Chicago and look forward to working with them as they continue to engage community members and leaders."

    The new system would be open to adding other hospitals that are on board with its goal of transforming healthcare, an Advocate Aurora representative said.

    This article was originally published in Crain's Chicago Business.

    Letter
    to the
    Editor

    Send us a letter

    Have an opinion about this story? Click here to submit a Letter to the Editor, and we may publish it in print.

    Recommended for You
    deal-making-puzzle_i.png
    Healthcare industry divided over draft merger guidelines
    Jacobson Andrabi merger
    Froedtert, ThedaCare CEOs envision staffing improvements after merger
    Most Popular
    1
    CMS tries luring providers to revamped Medicare ACOs
    2
    Oregon joins other states in setting ratios for nurse staffing
    3
    Blue Shield CA taps Amazon, Mark Cuban, CVS for new PBM model
    4
    A health innovation hub grows in Lake Nona Medical City
    5
    Hospital-at-home providers push for Medicaid coverage
    Sponsored Content
    Modern Healthcare Alert: Sign up for this breaking news email to be kept in the loop as urgent healthcare business news unfolds.
    Get Newsletters

    Sign up for enewsletters and alerts to receive breaking news and in-depth coverage of healthcare events and trends, as they happen, right to your inbox.

    Subscribe Today
    MH Magazine Cover

    MH magazine offers content that sheds light on healthcare leaders’ complex choices and touch points—from strategy, governance, leadership development and finance to operations, clinical care, and marketing.

    Subscribe
    Connect with Us
    • LinkedIn
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS

    Our Mission

    Modern Healthcare empowers industry leaders to succeed by providing unbiased reporting of the news, insights, analysis and data.

    Contact Us

    (877) 812-1581

    Email us

     

    Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Help Center
    • Advertise with Us
    • Ad Choices
    • Sitemap
    Editorial Dept
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Code of Ethics
    • Awards
    • About Us
    Legal
    • Terms and Conditions
    • Privacy Policy
    • Privacy Request
    Modern Healthcare
    Copyright © 1996-2023. Crain Communications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
    • News
      • Current News
      • Providers
      • Insurance
      • Government
      • Finance
      • Technology
      • Safety & Quality
      • Digital Health
      • Transformation
        • Patients
        • Operations
        • Care Delivery
        • Payment
      • ESG
      • People
      • Regional News
        • Midwest
        • Northeast
        • South
        • West
      • Digital Edition (Web Version)
    • Blogs
      • AI
      • Deals
      • Layoff Tracker
      • HIMSS 2023
    • Opinion
      • Breaking Bias
      • Commentaries
      • Letters
      • From the Editor
    • Events & Awards
      • Awards
        • Nominate/Eligibility
        • 100 Most Influential People
        • 50 Most Influential Clinical Executives
        • Best Places to Work in Healthcare
        • Excellence in Governance
        • Health Care Hall of Fame
        • Healthcare Marketing Impact Awards
        • Top 25 Emerging Leaders
        • Top Innovators
        • Diversity in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Diversity Leaders
          • - Leaders to Watch
        • Women in Healthcare
          • - Luminaries
          • - Top 25 Women Leaders
          • - Women to Watch
      • Conferences
        • Digital Health Transformation Summit
        • ESG: The Implementation Imperative Summit
        • Leadership Symposium
        • Social Determinants of Health Symposium
        • Women Leaders in Healthcare Conference
      • Galas
        • Best Places to Work Awards Gala
        • Health Care Hall of Fame Gala
        • Top 25 Diversity Leaders Gala
        • Top 25 Women Leaders Gala
      • Virtual Briefings
        • - Hospital of the Future
        • - Value Based Care
        • - Hospital at Home
        • - Workplace of the Future
        • - AI and Digital Health
        • - Future of Staffing
        • - Hospital of the Future (Fall)
      • Webinars
    • Multimedia
      • Podcast - Beyond the Byline
      • Sponsored Podcast - Healthcare Insider
      • Sponsored Video Series - One on One
      • Sponsored Video Series - Checking In with Dan Peres
    • Data & Insights
      • Data & Insights Home
      • Hospital Financials
      • Staffing & Compensation
      • Quality & Safety
      • Mergers & Acquisitions
      • Data Archive
      • Resource Guide: By the Numbers
      • Surveys
      • Data Points
    • Newsletters
    • MORE+
      • Contact Us
      • Advertise
      • Media Kit
      • Jobs
      • People on the Move
      • Reprints & Licensing