Centegra Will Shut Down Most Inpatient Services At Woodstock Hospital

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL - Centegra Health System, McHenry County's largest employer, could cut between 50 to 120 jobs at its Woodstock hospital and will close its intensive care unit and stop offering most of its current inpatient care, the Northwest Herald reports. The 108-bed hospital will also no longer admit patients and will instead treat them at either Centegra's 179-bed McHenry or newly-opened 128-bed Huntley hospitals.

The cost-saving measure is meant to address $30 million in losses through the first three quarters of the fiscal year, according to the Northwest Herald. The hospital also has had fewer patients and the demand for in-patient beds, in particular, has been low, hospitals officials told the newspaper.

The Woodstock hospital would still have an emergency room but switch from offering comprehensive to only basic emergency services, according to the Northwest Herald. This means those needing inpatient surgery would need to go to a different hospital.

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With fewer patients utilizing its hospitals' beds and major losses recorded at its Woodstock hospital, another driving forces behind Centegra's decision had to do with the fact that three McHenry County hospitals are all within close proximity to each other, meaning patients should still get everything they need for medical services, Centegra CEO Michael Eesley told the Northwest Herald.

For those coming from central Crystal Lake, Woodstock's hospital is currently the closest at about 5.5 miles while Centegra's hospital in McHenry is 7.3 miles away. The new Huntley hospital is about 9.2 miles away and Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington is 9.6 miles. Sherman Hospital in Elgin is also serves the McHenry County area and is about 13.2 miles from central Crystal Lake and only 9 miles from downtown Algonquin.

“Most care is delivered by you going to your physician’s office, ... by you going to immediate care. We feel we’ve got it pretty well covered,” Eesley told the Northwest Herald. "Our facilities from Woodstock or any demographic area are probably no more than 10 to 12 miles, tops, you would need to drive.”

Meanwhile, just a day before Centegra announced it would consolidate its McHenry Co. hospital services, MercyHealth received approval from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to open a 13-bed small hospital in Crystal Lake. The new hospital at Route 31 and Three Oaks Road will include a comprehensive emergency room, two operating rooms, 11 medical-surgical beds, two intensive care beds, a laboratory, full-service radiology imaging and a pharmacy, according to the Northwest Herald.

• New 13-Bed Hospital Approved for Crystal Lake
  

More via the Northwest Herald

Photo via Centegra Health