CHICAGO (OSV News) — Illinois’ largest Catholic health system has taken an important step in the process of attempting to sell more than half of its hospitals in the state to a for-profit health system.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board on Dec. 17 approved the sale of 11 facilities – nine hospitals and two ambulatory surgery centers – from Ascension Hospitals of Illinois, based in St. Louis, to Prime Healthcare, based in Ontario and California. Only two of the hospitals mentioned in the sale will continue to operate on a nonprofit basis.
The Illinois Board of Regents values the purchase price at $375 million and expects the sale to be completed by Dec. 31.
The sale would mark Prime Healthcare’s entry into Illinois.
Ascension is the parent company of Ascension St. Agnes Medical Center in southwest Baltimore. A St. Agnes spokesperson said sales in Illinois would not affect the Baltimore facility.
According to a July press release first announcing the proposed sale, four other Ascension locations in Illinois, including senior living and post-acute care facilities, will also be sold. Ascension said Prime Healthcare will invest $250 million in facility and systems upgrades, capital improvements as well as “substantial technology enhancements.”
Ascension’s media relations department sent OSV News a statement saying the Illinois Catholic Health System group expressed gratitude for the review committee’s approval of the sale.
“Ascension Illinois leaders are grateful for the unanimous decision of the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to approve the transfer of ownership of nine acute care hospitals and two ambulatory surgery centers from Ascension Illinois at Prime Healthcare,” the release said. “We strongly believe that the Board’s approval of this project will preserve jobs and ensure access to needed health care throughout Chicagoland, as well as future investment in Illinois.
However, the National Nurses United union opposed the sale. The union, which has previously fought with Ascension, had urged the Illinois State Board of Regents in an Oct. 18 letter to reject the sale because of what it described as “the Prime Healthcare’s habit of putting profits ahead of patients, leading to illegal and unethical practices that endanger people’s lives.” health, in addition to the elimination of essential health services in the community.
According to a September release on its financial statements, Ascension reported a net loss of $1.1 billion for fiscal 2024. It reported a balance sheet of nearly $41 billion in assets and more than $15 billion in dollars of liquidity.
According to a 2021 analysis published in the Journal of Healthcare Management titled “The Changing Landscape of Catholic Hospitals and Health Systems, 2008-2017,” a Catholic hospital today “is more likely to be associated with a non-Catholic hospital.” Catholic or being detained.” by a for-profit system rather than being solely partnered with or operated by another Catholic system.
The analysis found that of more than 4,200 hospitals studied over nearly a decade, about 530 changed ownership or management. His summary states that greater decentralization occurred in Catholic hospitals during this period and that Catholic hospitals today “appear to resemble their non-Catholic counterparts more closely.”
According to Ascension, the sale is subject to canonical approval. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Chicago told OSV News on Dec. 27 that it had no comment on the pending sale.
The Catholic Review contributed to this report.
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