Illinois senators are pressuring Prime Healthcare to roll back service line closures among certain hospitals it acquired from Ascension earlier this year.
Prime, a 51-hospital for-profit system that says it "has earned a national reputation for turning around financially struggling hospitals" during its 24-year history,” purchased eight Illinois hospitals from the nonprofit Ascension for $370 million. The deal had initially included a ninth hospital, Ascension St. Elizabeth, for which Prime paid $5 million, that was shuttered with the blessing of a state review board.
As part of the deal, Prime committed to maintaining the hospitals’ charity care programs and said it would pour $250 million into facility upgrades, capital improvements, technology investments and system upgrades.
Of note, it also agreed to “not make any material reductions to, or material changes in, the mix or level of services offered at any hospital … to meet community needs” in the coming years.
The last commitment is front and center of a June 20 letter to Prime CEO Prem Reddy, M.D., from U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Democrats from Illinois. The lawmakers’ letter pointed to the suspension of pediatric services at one of the acquired hospitals, the withdrawal of the Level II trauma designation at another, and the termination of obstetric and maternal care services at a third.
“Prime Healthcare has only operated these eight Illinois hospitals for two months, and there are already profound concerns about patients losing access to care,” the senators wrote in their letter.
A spokesperson for Prime, in a statement, told Fierce Healthcare that the service line changes adhered to regulatory guidelines and "were communicated transparently with the Illinois Department of Public Health, the Health Facilities and Services Review Board, staff, and local stakeholders."
The lawmakers’ letter underscored Prime’s for-profit status, and broadly blamed “the grip of for-profit hospital systems” on the country for diminishing hospital staffing levels, cost increases and other detriments to care. They also noted that Prime has been subject to federal enforcement actions, including a pair of settlements in 2018 and 2021 totaling about $100 million, resolving allegations of Medicare kickbacks and upcoding.
Durbin and Duckworth closed their letter with nearly a dozen questions for Reddy regarding the acquired hospitals and Prime’s plans.
Among these were inquiries on the decision-making process around service reductions, whether Prime worked with others to ensure other nearby facilities have sufficient capacity to meet new demand, whether any employees would be terminated, the anticipated financial savings and whether any other services are planned for closure.
“We sincerely urge your health system to immediately reconsider these decisions, as the consequences of these reductions hold the potential to strip patients of critical and specialized care, impose additional barriers to accessing care and exacerbate the existing health care needs in the communities these hospitals serve,” the senators wrote.
The Prime spokesperson said the service line changes were part of Prime's work to make the facilities, which were losing "nearly $200 million annually," more sustainable. They also said the organization has already started work on its promised investments into the facilities, and that it has "already preserved over 13,000 jobs and created 1,000 new jobs across our Illinois hospitals."
"We share Senators Durbin and Duckworth's commitment to ensuring access to quality care and welcome the opportunity to engage and respond to their questions in full alignment with the regulatory process and our shared commitment to ensuring sustainable, equitable and high-quality healthcare for the people of Illinois," the spokesperson said.