Chicago's Mercy Hospital files for bankruptcy

Mercy Hospital & Medical Center in Chicago filed for bankruptcy protection Feb. 10, amid its plan to close that has been contested in the community.

The Chapter 11 plan includes the discontinuation of inpatient acute care services, Mercy's owner, Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, said in a bankruptcy filing

Mercy said it plans to cease operations of all departments, except for basic emergency services, on May 31. 

"There have been many steps that preceded the difficult decision to file for Chapter 11," Trinity said. 

In a news release announcing the bankruptcy, Mercy said it was losing staff and "experiencing mounting financial losses" that are challenging its ability to provide safe patient care. 

Mercy said its losses have averaged about $5 million per month and reached $30.2 million for the first six months of fiscal year 2021. Further, the hospital has accumulated debt of more than $303.2 million over the last seven years, and the hospital needs more than $100 million in upgrades and modernizations.

The Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing comes just weeks after the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board rejected Trinity's plan to build an outpatient center in the neighborhood where it is closing the 170-year-old inpatient hospital. The same board unanimously rejected Trinity's plan to close the hospital in December.

The December vote from the review board came after months of protests from physicians, healthcare advocates and community organizers, who say that closing the hospital would create a healthcare desert on Chicago's South Side. 

The state review board has a meeting to discuss the closure March 16. 

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