Hi, what are you looking for?
Ascension to sell 9 Illinois hospitals to for-profit health system
Life issues — from abortion to immigration — took center stage in 2024
Jesuits join in ‘heartbreaking’ search for migrants’ remains in Arizona desert
Wisconsin diocese readies its own ‘Notre Dame’ comeback cathedral
Illness or demons? Online conference helps discern mental, spiritual health issues
Life issues — from abortion to immigration — took center stage in 2024
In Bethlehem’s empty streets, a shopkeeper fights to keep hope alive
Jesuits join in ‘heartbreaking’ search for migrants’ remains in Arizona desert
Gaza: For humanitarian workers, civilians, 2024 proves to be year of suffering, loss
May this be the last wartime Christmas, Cardinal Krajewski prays in Kharkiv, Ukraine
God wants all people to be saved; he forgives all who repent, pope says
Don’t lose hope, pope says as he opens Holy Door at Rome prison
Pope urges war-torn world to walk through door of peace on Christmas
Pope at Christmas: Jesus’ birth brings hope for world of justice, peace
Pope opens Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica, launching ‘Jubilee of Hope’
Glenmary’s mission is to bring Catholic presence to ‘No Priest Land’ in rural areas of US
Why I’m spending Christmas in Bethlehem this year
OSV Editors: How to participate in the Jubilee Year
What is the point of the Mass reading about the genealogy of Jesus?
What is the significance of a Jubilee Year?
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
‘Believe’ offers a logical and compassionate case for religious belief
Novel set in Dante’s ‘Inferno’ perfect reading for November
Why ‘Conclave’ is captivating audiences as the season’s big Indie hit
Fear, trust and walking through the valley of the shadow of death
Jesuitas participan en ‘desgarradora’ búsqueda de restos de migrantes en desierto de Arizona
El Papa en Navidad: El nacimiento de Jesús trae la esperanza de un mundo de justicia y paz
8 maneras de celebrar el Jubileo 2025 sin salir de tu diócesis
Un seminario web latino se centra en llevar a los jóvenes a Misa
El Papa elogia la piedad popular durante la primera Misa papal en Córcega
By
Published
Flipboard
Reddit
Pinterest
Whatsapp
Whatsapp
Email
CHICAGO (OSV News) — The largest Catholic health system in Illinois cleared a significant step in the process of trying 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 outpatient surgical centers — of St. Louis-based Ascension’s Illinois hospitals to Ontario, California-based Prime Healthcare. Only two of the hospitals mentioned in the sale will continue to operate as not-for-profit.
The Illinois board lists 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.
According to a July news release that first announced the proposed sale, four other Ascension locations in Illinois, including senior living facilities and post-acute care facilities, will be sold as well. Ascension said Prime Healthcare would invest $250 million in facility and system upgrades, capital improvements as well as “substantial technology improvements.”
Ascension’s media relations department sent OSV News a statement saying the Catholic health system’s Illinois group expressed gratitude for the review board’s approval of the sale.
“Ascension Illinois leaders are grateful for the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board’s unanimous decision to approve the transfer of ownership of nine acute care hospitals and two ambulatory surgery centers from Ascension Illinois to Prime Healthcare,” said the statement. “We firmly believe the Board’s approval of this project will preserve jobs and ensure needed healthcare access across Chicagoland, as well as investment in Illinois for the future.”
However, the sale was opposed by the National Nurses United union. The union, which has tussled with Ascension before, had urged the Illinois state board in an Oct. 18 letter to reject the sale over what it described as “Prime Healthcare’s history of putting profits over patients, leading to illegal and unethical practices that risk people’s health, in addition to the elimination of crucial health services in the community.”
According to a September release on its financials, Ascension reported a net $1.1 billion loss for fiscal year 2024. It reported a balance sheet of nearly $41 billion of assets and over $15 billion in liquidity.
According to a 2021 analysis published in the Journal of Healthcare Management and titled “The Changing Landscape of Catholic Hospitals and Health Systems, 2008-2017” a Catholic hospital today “is more likely to be partnered with a non-Catholic hospital or to be owned by a for-profit system than to be solely partnered with or operated by another Catholic system.”
The analysis found of the more than 4,200 hospitals it studied over nearly a decade, about 530 changed ownership or management. Its abstract said there was greater decentralization at the Catholic hospitals taking place over this time frame, and that Catholic hospitals today “appear to be more similar to their non-Catholic counterparts.”
According to Ascension, the sale is subject to canonical approval. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Chicago told OSV News Dec. 27 that it had no comment on the pending sale.
Simone Orendain writes for OSV News from Chicago.
Flipboard
Reddit
Pinterest
Whatsapp
Whatsapp
Email
DETROIT (OSV News) — Nicole Duque, 23, has always desired to become a mother. She was born and raised in the United States, with…
ROLLING FORK, Miss. (OSV News) — No less than 23 people have been killed after at least one powerful tornado tore through rural Mississippi…
MIAMI (OSV News) — Divine intervention may be the only explanation for how two college teammates graduated, ventured off on different career paths miles…
BETHESDA, Md. (OSV News) — Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio of the U.S. Archdiocese for Military Services has called a decision by a U.S. military…
Copyright ©2023 OSV News / Our Sunday Visitor, Inc.
Français 
English