Advocate Health Care plans to spend $1 billion overhauling how it provides health care on the South Side of Chicago – replacing Advocate Trinity Hospital with a smaller facility with far fewer beds, while expanding access to primary and specialty care.
It’s a plan that Advocate leaders say will address the health disparities that have long plagued South Side residents, by focusing more on keeping them healthy and focusing less on hospital beds. It’s also a plan that comes as South Side hospitals continue to struggle financially, because of rising costs, older buildings and because many patients leave the area for health care.
Under the plan, Advocate will spend $300 million to construct a new hospital at the former U.S. Steel South Works site near the lakefront. Advocate already has an agreement to purchase 23 acres at the site. That hospital will replace the Advocate Trinity building, which is more than 115 years old and sits on the southeast side of Chicago on 93rd Street.
Advocate Trinity has 205 licensed beds, while the new hospital will have 52. The new facility will be a full-service hospital with an emergency department and intensive care unit.
Advocate decided it made more sense to build a new, state-of-the-art facility rather than continue to pour money into the old Trinity building, said Advocate Trinity President Michelle Blakely. There’s also an excess of hospital beds on the South Side. In 2023, there were 660 more hospital beds than necessary in that area of Chicago, according to the state.
“We are co-creating solutions that will help our community achieve health and wellness as opposed to what we’re currently doing, which is treating (illness),” Blakely said. “If we’re talking about how to spend that next health care dollar, the best use of that health care dollar is to go where our patients are and to create health and wellness, and not build a bed that will sit empty.”
To that end, the $1 billion plan also calls for Advocate to spend $500 million on a dramatic expansion of offerings for people seeking outpatient care. The system expects the expansion will allow for an additional 85,000 appointments a year.
Advocate plans to open 10 “neighborhood care locations” in places such as South Side churches and community centers, where advanced practice providers (such as nurse practitioners or physician assistants) will address common needs such as colds, sore throats, flu and chronic disease management, over video calls. The system also plans to add immediate care to its Imani Village outpatient clinic.
Advocate plans to spend another $200 million on other programs and services, including adding more doctors to the South Side to enable an additional 5,000 obstetrician/gynecologist appointments each year. The South Side has a large Black population, and Black women in Illinois are significantly more likely than white women to die from pregnancy-related conditions and suffer severe pregnancy or delivery complications.
Advocate also plans to offer free prescription programs to patients in need, and add vending machine-like pharmacy kiosks to some of its locations where patients can more easily get common medications.
In all, the plan calls for Advocate to hire another 1,000 workers on the South Side over the next three years, in addition to keeping all of its current workers there.
State and local leaders heaped praise on Advocate’s plan this week – noting how it could ease health disparities on the South Side of Chicago. A 2019 NYU School of Medicine analysis found a 30 year difference between average life expectancies of residents of the Streeterville neighborhood on the city’s North Side versus those of residents of the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. Residents of the South Side also face higher rates of chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer, according to UChicago Medicine. It’s believed those disparities stem from a lack of access to health care, racism, economic instability, and a lack of access to nutritious foods and opportunities for physical activity, among other things.
Gov. JB Pritzker called it a “monumental investment” that “represents a critical step towards advancing equity,” in a news release.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a news release it’s a “visionary initiative” that “takes direct aim at the systemic inequities that have persisted for generations.”
“By expanding access to quality care, addressing chronic illnesses, and fostering sustainable job opportunities, this investment will not only enhance health outcomes but also empower and uplift entire communities,” Johnson said.
Construction on the new hospital could begin by the end of next year, and it could be completed by 2029, pending state approvals, Blakely said. Advocate must still submit its plan for the new hospital to the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board for approval.
This isn’t the first time Advocate leaders have sought to transform care on the South Side. In early 2020, four South Side hospitals, including Advocate Trinity, announced a plan to combine into a single system that would have included the construction of a new hospital and the potential closures of others, to better serve patients and create financial sustainability. But the hospitals jettisoned that plan after lawmakers declined to set aside funding for the project.
Hospitals on the South Side have long faced financial struggles partly because many serve populations that rely heavily on Medicaid, a state and federally funded health insurance program that often doesn’t reimburse hospitals as well for care as private insurance. Also, more than half of South Side residents now leave the area for care, according to UChicago Medicine, which is also working to expand care on the South Side with construction of a new freestanding, $815 million cancer hospital in Hyde Park.
Still, Blakely said, Advocate’s new plan is about addressing health inequities rather than finances.
“This is not a financial move,” Blakely said of the plan. “This is how does Advocate meet the needs of the community based on current utilization and our desire to close the health equity gap.”
State Sen. Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, said he hopes the new offerings allow more South Side residents to receive care closer to home.
“As opposed to somebody using the ER as their primary care physician, you’ll see this focus on preventative care, this focus on providing services early so it doesn’t get to the point where the person has to be admitted,” Sims said. “Am I concerned about the reduction in beds? Absolutely, but am I encouraged by the investment in the increased quality of care? Absolutely.”
The current Advocate Trinity Hospital will continue serving patients until the new hospital opens, at which point Advocate said it will demolish the building, create a green space and work with the city and community to determine the best use for the property. The new hospital is planned to be LEED-certified and carbon neutral.
