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The state health agency that oversees hospital operations will hold a public hearing Friday in Joliet on the planned sale of the Ascension Saint Joseph – Joliet hospital.
The hearing will be from 3 to 5 p.m. in the theater building at Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park, 201 W. Jefferson St., Joliet.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, which oversees hospitals and must approve the change in ownership for it to proceed, will conduct the hearing.
California-based Prime HealthCare Services plans to acquire the Joliet hospital by the end of this year.
The board is tentatively scheduled to consider the planned acquisition at its meeting Oct. 29, according to a notice from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board.
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The agreement to sell Ascension Saint Joseph – Joliet and other Illinois hospitals owned by Ascension was announced in July.
Prime Healthcare now operates 44 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations in 14 states.
Its planned acquisition of Ascension properties includes the Villa Franciscan Place senior living facility located on the Joliet hospital campus and other Ascension hospitals in Illinois.
Prime is acquiring nine Ascension hospitals in the Chicago area, their satellite offices and four affiliated senior living facilities.
The pending acquisition of the Joliet hospital by Prime would be the latest change in corporate ownership for the facility, which has been branded under the Amita, Presence and Provena corporate logos during a sequence of ownership changes since the late 1990s.
Submitting public comment
• Written comments on the proposed acquisition of the Ascension Saint Joseph – Joliet hospital must be received by Oct. 9 and can be sent by email to DPH.HFSRB@Illinois.gov.
• The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board will post its findings on the internet by Oct. 15.
• The public can submit written responses to the board’s findings by email to DPH.HFSRB@Illinois.gov until 9 a.m. Oct. 21