Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health is seeking approval to build an outpatient center in a South Side Chicago neighborhood where it plans to close its 170-year-old inpatient hospital next year.
In July, Trinity Health announced plans to close Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood between Feb. 1 and May 31 of next year, pending approval from state regulators.
Mercy Hospital has said it can no longer sustain monthly operating losses of $4 million and that the aging facility needed more than $100 million in capital upgrades.
In response to concerns about care lapses resulting from closing the hospital, Trinity filed a certificate of need application with the state for permission to open Mercy Care Center.
The outpatient center would offer urgent care, diagnostic testing and care coordination services, Trinity said. The facility, slated to open Sept. 30, 2021, would be about 2 miles away from Mercy Hospital.
"Mercy has a long history in Chicago of providing compassionate care to those in need," said Mike Slubowski, president and CEO of Trinity Health. "While the way in which patients receive that care might change over the years, our mission to serve the most vulnerable among us remains the same."
Northwestern Medicine, a 10-hospital system in Chicago, announced plans in September to build an outpatient care center in Bronzeville. The ambulatory center, which would need regulatory approval, would be 75,000 square feet and house an urgent care center, primary care clinic and specialty care services.