Mercy Hospital Files For Bankruptcy, Set To Shutter In May

CHICAGO — The historic Mercy Hospital and Medical Center in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood filed for bankruptcy Wednesday. Chicago's oldest hospital, now owned by Michigan-based Trinity Health, plans to shutter most operations at the end of May.

The Chapter 11 filing follows Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board rulings that rejected Trinity's plans to close Mercy's 412-bed hospital at 2525 S. Michigan Ave. and open an outpatient Mercy Care Center about two miles away at 3753 S. Cottage Grove Ave.

Trinity's board authorized the filing in a Feb. 5 resolution that said Mercy's leadership had tried to put in place a planned clinical transformation plan but has been unable to and "does not anticipate being able to do so in the future," Bloomberg reported.

“The quality of care at Mercy is an increasing concern as physicians and other colleagues have left Mercy and operating losses have accelerated to $7 million per month,” the resolution said.

According to Mercy's attorneys, the facility needs a minimum of $100 million in capital investments over the next five years in order to "maintain a safe and sustainable acute care environment."

South Side residents and faith-based organizations have campaigned against the closure of the hospital, which serves many older and low-income residents in the historically Black Bronzeville community.

“We recognize the community’s desire that Mercy should stay open, but Mercy has provided as much care as possible while incurring losses that no single entity can afford alone,” a hospital spokesperson told the Chicago Sun-Times in a statement. “The system of care for the underserved on Chicago’s South Side is badly broken, and it is the system that must be fixed so patients can access the care they deserve.”

Mercy Hospital was founded in 1852 by the Sisters of Mercy, who converted an old rooming house near Rush Street and the Chicago River into the first chartered hospital in Chicago. It moved to Wabash and Van Buren in 1859 and to 26th Street and Calumet Avenue in 1863.

Its current facility opened in January 1968 as a 517-bed hospital, according to hospital representatives. After nearly 160 years as an independent hospital, Trinity Health took over in April 2012.

In November 2018, a gunman killed three people, including a police officer, pharmacy resident and a doctor — his ex-fiancée — at Mercy Hospital before dying in an exchange of gunfire with police.

Last year, Mercy was one four South Side hospitals that had planned to merge before state lawmakers failed to come to an agreement on hospital transportation funding while making changes to hospital assessment regulations during their few days in session in May.

Some Illinois lawmakers were hopeful of a fix last fall, WTTW reported, but the legislature rejected remote work and did not meet again until last month.

Officials from Mercy, Advocate Trinity Hospital, St. Bernard Hospital and South Shore Hospital had counted on millions of dollars of state funding and warned at the time it would lead to closures, service cuts and reduced access for area patients. About two months later, hospital officials announced plans to close Mercy in May 2021.

The state's Health Facilities and Services Review Board is set to hold a hearing on Mercy's closure plan on March 16.