OSF, Ottawa officials to continue to meet on hospital plans

OSF HealthCare requested a deferral last week for its permit applications to discontinue Ottawa’s current hospital facility and build a new one.

In a July 17 letter to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, OSF senior vice president of health care analytics Mark Hohulin said the reason for the request deferral is to allow needed time for representatives of OSF to meet with city of Ottawa officials to discuss their opposition to the proposed projects.

The state panel was expected to review the applications at its August meeting, but the deferral pushes the matter to Sept. 19.

Ottawa Commissioner Tom Ganiere announced OSF’s plans at the Ottawa City Council meeting July 16, acknowledging that the deferral showed an openness of OSF to talk with city officials about the plans.

The Ottawa City Council, along with the cities of Streator and Marseilles, the La Salle County Board and the Ottawa Area Chamber of Commerce, opposed OSF’s plan to build a new hospital that reduces some services in Ottawa. At the heart of the opposition is a reduction of medical/surgical beds and intensive care unit beds.

AJ Querciagrossa, CEO of OSF’s Western Region, and Dawn Trompeter, president of OSF St. Elizabeth Medical Center, have confirmed that OSF was open to adding eight medical/surgical beds – four of those being intermediate care beds – and a second procedure room. They said OSF would need Ottawa’s support to implement the plan, which adds $14 million of investment to the project. The proposal has not been modified in its state applications.

Ottawa officials, however, want to continue to meet with OSF and work on continued modifications to the plan.

Ganiere said city and OSF officials are expected to meet in the first part of August.

Residents in the Ottawa area have been critical of OSF’s plan to build a $126 million facility with a 26-bed inpatient behavioral health unit, 12 medical/surgical beds and a surgery suite, emergency services, diagnostic imaging and outpatient care services.

The plan would eliminate ICU beds and obstetrics, reducing beds from 54 in the current facility to 12. A June public meeting drew 250 people in attendance and dozens of comments in opposition of the plan.

OSF has said that St. Elizabeth-Peru will serve as the hub hospital within the Interstate 80 corridor, including 45 medical/surgical beds, eight intensive care unit rooms, 11 obstetric rooms to support a regional birthing center, surgery and procedure rooms, emergency services, diagnostic imaging and outpatient care services. OSF officials have said Peru is centrally located to better serve the western portion of the region.

Querciagrossa has said the current hospital serves 50 outpatients for every one inpatient, thus making more than the 12 proposed beds unnecessary. He noted rural hospital models have changed over time. He has said “98% of the medical care in Ottawa will continue in Ottawa, including outpatient and EED services” with the new facility.

OSF has not deferred an application for expanded services in Peru. That application will remain on schedule for review by the state panel in August.