Key Issues Surrounding CON Applications

Building a hospital is not done on a whim.

It’s a process that must be cleared by a state board made up of appointed members and must meet criteria set forth by the Illinois Department of Public Health.

The application, called a Certificate of Need, has a list of criteria but a critical one is proving a hospital would fill the need for bed space. Centegra Health System and Mercy Health System have both submitted a Certificate of Need applications hoping its own proposal gains the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board’s approval.

The IDPH has identified a need for 83 additional hospital beds in what the department calls the A10 planning area consisting of southern McHenry County. The second area with the most need is northern Kane County.

Centegra’s plan for a Huntley hospital is the perfect location to meet bed need, said Susan Milford, Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing and Planning and Wellness Services. The hospital would “not only serve a need in McHenry but in Kane County as well,” she said.

The need for bed space is partly determined by population figures and critics have questioned whether there is really a need for more hospital beds given growth in the planning areas has stalled due to the economy and population growths seemed to have slowed. Additionally, surrounding hospitals including Sherman Hospital in Elgin argue there is an excess of bed space because some rooms are going unused.

But both Centegra’s and Mercy’s applications call for more than the recommended number of beds, something an IDPH staff report found did not meet the CON criteria.

The two hospital proposals call for 128 beds consisting of 100 medical/surgical beds. But the IDPH calls for 83 medical/surgical beds.

“We are off in the medical/surgical beds by a few beds. I think the state demonstrated 83 beds. That number will grow substantially over the next five years,” said Rich Gruber, Vice President of Mercy Health System, based in Wisconsin. “If we are granted permission to go forward, we can achieve the 85 percent usage rates the state requires and do so without damaging other facilities.”

Centegra has a similar point of view.

“By the time the hospital is built, there will be, we believe, a 104 bed need,” Milford said.

Both hospitals are expected to argue for their plans and argue that population growth will continue in the planning areas, enough to warrant the additional beds.

“The board has approved projects that have not met the guidelines,” Gruber said. “We believe with the right logic and merits presented….they concur with our rationale.”