Mercy seeks smaller medical center in CL
By JIM BUTTS - jbutts@nwherald.com
CRYSTAL LAKE – Mercy Health System intends to build a 83,000 square foot medical center at the site it once had planned for a hospital, Mercy officials said Wednesday.
The $31 million proposed development would be built at the southeast corner of Route 31 and Three Oaks Road in Crystal Lake, according to a "letter of intent" submitted to a state board by Mercy President and CEO Javon Bea.
The facility would include a medical office building, ambulatory surgery center and immediate care service, according to the document.
“We believe that there is a real need for additional health care services in one of the fastest growing areas of Illinois,” Mercy Marketing and Public Relations Vice President Barb Bortner said in a statement. “The medical office building that we have applied for would combine all of our medical centers in the area. Also, we have a number of specialists that have difficulty getting surgery time at local hospitals. Our commitment to serving patients in Illinois remains strong.”
Mercy officials have not decided whether a Crystal Lake hospital was still in the health care provider’s long-term plans, Bortner said.
“The project described in the letter of intent is a stand alone project that we want considered as such,” Bortner said in a statement.
Called “Mercy Crystal Lake Medical Center,” the development specifically would include space for 25 physician offices, ancillary space, immediate care services, two general ambulatory surgery suites, and support space, according to the letter of intent filed in late September.
Under Illinois law, if a health care provider wants to gain state approval to expand significantly, the provider must file a letter of intent with the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board and then apply for a certificate of need within a year.
To earn the certificate, Mercy must convince the five-member IHFPB that an expansion is needed and economically feasible.
Mercy anticipates filing a certificate of need application for the medical center in January, according to the letter of intent.
The letter also states it “replaces” Mercy’s letter of intent filed in March that proposed a $224 million, 128-bed hospital in Crystal Lake. At that time Bea, Mercy’s CEO, had said, “We remain committed to building a hospital to meet the needs of the citizens of the Crystal Lake area.”
Mercy officials said at the time that they planned to delay the hospital plan until a state task force finished reforming the way Illinois regulates hospital construction.
The task force's creation is related to Mercy Health System’s first attempt to build a $81.4 million, 70-bed hospital at the Crystal Lake site. That proposal became embroiled in a corruption probe that culminated in the recent conviction of Tony Resko, a fundraiser for Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Mercy officials have said in the past that they cooperated with investigators. No one at Mercy was charged in the probe.
Mercy’s original hospital plan died in May 2005 when a judge ruled the IHFPB had violated its rules when it approved the hospital.
