Ill. Board Closes a Struggling Charity Hospital
May 11, 2011 | Read Time: 1 minute
An Illinois regulatory panel voted Tuesday to approve one Illinois “safety net” hospital’s request to close but ordered another facility to remain open, reports the Associated Press.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board agreed to close Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital in East St. Louis, which loses $5-million a year and has reduced services to 39 mental-health beds and an emergency room that did not accept trauma patients.
But the board denied a request by Cook County to close Oak Forest Hospital outside Chicago. Local officials said closing the hospital was necessary to reduce spiraling health-care costs, but critics said it would severely affect care for the poor and uninsured.
State budget cuts and a spike in patients seeking free care have forced charity hospitals in several states to close and pushed others to the brink of ruin, the Associated Press previously reported.
