Edward tussling with state health department over new law

Edward Hospital officials again are at odds with the state agency that oversees requests for new hospitals.

A new report from the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board recommends denying Edward's proposed 162-bed, $250 million Plainfield hospital.

Officials at Naperville-based Edward, however, say the agency staff members who compiled the report did not use criteria allowed under a law passed just last year.

"We filed our Plainfield Hospital application in June knowing the new law had been put in play and actually did our calculations based on the new law," Brian Davis, Edward vice president of communications, said Wednesday.

The law allows the state board to consider population growth calculations as a criteria for new medical centers. It took effect in May 2007.

But Melanie Arnold, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health, said the legislature's Joint Committee on Administrative Rules has yet to decide how the calculations should be created.

"The rules are currently going through first notice and that public comment period ends Jan. 28," she said. "We can't use the rule until it's in place."

The bipartisan committee is an obscure panel used to fine-tune new laws. Many times laws are enforced with committee changes added at a later date.

There is no set timeline for the legislative panel to act, but at least one state senator is pushing for an emergency ruling that could expedite matters.

State Sen. Linda Holmes, an Aurora Democrat whose district also covers Plainfield, called the public health department's actions "appalling."

"I live in Aurora and can get to four hospitals quicker than someone in Plainfield can get to one," she said. "This law clearly states that this is immediate, and to do a report and not utilize the new law is a huge waste of time and money and is quite frankly ludicrous."

She questioned how the statewide smoking ban could be enforced without the joint committee's approval, while the hospital change was being held up.

Edward has tried twice before to win approval to build a hospital in Plainfield and has been rejected both times. Davis said officials specifically waited until the new law was passed before submitting a third application.

"We're very disappointed the Department of Public Health has chosen to ignore the new law," he said.

Edward officials were expected to pitch the Plainfield proposal at a state planning board hearing Jan. 15 and 16, but Davis said they likely will ask for a deferral until the issues surrounding the new rules are worked out.

Meanwhile, he said the hospital's plans to build a surgery center and cancer center on the Plainfield campus are on schedule. The surgery center is expected to open in the spring and the cancer center in 2009.