Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth are questioning a California-based health system that recently bought eight Illinois hospitals, after cuts to services at several of those locations.
The senators sent a letter to Prime Healthcare founder, chairman and CEO Dr. Prem Reddy on Tuesday expressing concern about the changes and asking him to answer questions about the health system’s plans.
“Prime Healthcare has only operated these eight Illinois hospitals for two months, and there are already profound concerns about patients losing access to care,” the Senate Democrats wrote in their letter.
They also urged Prime “to immediately reconsider these decisions, as the consequences of these reductions hold the potential to strip patients of critical and specialized care, impose additional barriers to accessing care, and exacerbate the existing health care needs in the communities these hospitals serve.”
A spokesperson for Prime did not immediately provide comment Tuesday afternoon.
Prime, which is a for-profit company, bought the eight Illinois hospitals in March for more than $370 million from Ascension, a large Catholic health system. Most of the hospitals sold to Prime changed from being nonprofit hospitals to for-profit hospitals as part of the sale.
The hospitals that were sold include Holy Family Medical Center in Des Plaines, Mercy Medical Center in Aurora, Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago, St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, St. Joseph Hospital in Elgin, St. Mary’s Hospital in Kankakee and St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago.
Less than two months after the sale, Prime announced that it planned to suspend inpatient pediatric care at St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet — a move affecting two doctors and eight staff members. Prime said in a statement at the time that the unit had been averaging less than one patient a day, while the need for other services such as advanced surgical, neurosurgical and spinal care had grown.
The decision drew criticism from the Illinois Nurses Association, which said, in part, the suspension would hurt the community, which only has one hospital.
In recent years, many community hospitals in Illinois have closed their inpatient pediatric units, citing decreased demand.
Also, in April, Mercy Medical Center in Aurora lost its designation as a Level II trauma center. The Illinois Department of Public Health alleged in a letter to the hospital that at several points over the last few months (both before and after Prime’s purchase) Mercy did not have the staff to cover essential services required of a Level II trauma center.
At the time, a spokesperson for the hospital told the Tribune that the hospital had already started the process of voluntarily withdrawing its designation before the letter was received, because of a decline in Level II trauma patients.
In their letter, Durbin and Duckworth also criticize “the recent termination of comprehensive obstetric and maternal care services at St. Mary’s in Kankakee.”
“… As the grip of for-profit hospital systems tightens across our nation’s health care networks, profitability has risen as a primary indicator of success for hospital owners,” the senators wrote in their letter. “When operations are centered around a hospital’s ability to generate as much profit as possible, it often comes at the expense of patients, staff, and the quality and safety of care.”
The senators are asking Reddy to answer a number of questions by June 10, including how Prime plans to compensate for the loss of certain services in communities served by those hospitals, how much money Prime anticipates saving as a result of the changes, and whether Prime has plans to shut down other facilities or reduce other services in the future.
The senators are also questioning Reddy about a statement made in an application to the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board at the time the ownership change was proposed, saying, “… at this time, no changes to the scope of services or the levels of care provided at the facility are currently anticipated to occur within 24 months of the proposed transaction.”
“What circumstances have shifted since the acquisition to justify a different course of action?” the senators ask in their letter.
At the time of the acquisition, Prime pledged to invest $250 million in the Illinois facilities for upgrades, capital improvements, technology and system upgrades. Prime’s leaders have emphasized the health system’s commitment to saving distressed community hospitals.
