Lake County medical merger on the table

The Lake Forest Hospital Foundation's board of directors presented a merger proposal Monday to the Condell Health Network.

While Lake Forest officials are touting the proposal as the new health-care system for northeastern Illinois, Condell remains mum.

Jodi Levine, Condell's vice president, said she wasn't aware of the proposal until contacted by media Monday afternoon.

"I can't confirm anything because I have not seen a proposal," she said.

Forrest R. Whittaker, Lake Forest Hospital Foundation chairman, said combining the quality reputation of Lake Forest with the breadth and depth of Condell's services would be the best solution to bringing quality health care to residents.

"Rather than building multiple hospitals throughout the region with inpatient beds, we would be creating a more efficient system that brings tertiary care services that are unavailable in the county," Whittaker said.

Whittaker was likely referring to two proposals before the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.

Vista Health of Waukegan and Oak Brook's Advocate Health Care are attempting to gain approval to build facilities in Lindenhurst and Round Lake, respectively.

If either is approved, it would be the first new hospital in Lake County in 30 years.

Condell and Lake Forest Hospital have been vocal opponents of both proposals.

A combination of Lake Forest Hospital and Condell would create a regional network of 488 inpatient beds, 1,200 physicians and 3,000 employees.

As part of the proposal, Lake Forest Hospital also presented a line of credit to Libertyville-based Condell to support financial needs of the hospital. The exact amount was not disclosed.

Condell Health Network reported an operating loss of $10.4 million for 2006 and has been working on turning it around.

In November, Condell ended its relationship with Blue Cross Blue Shield, making the hospital out-of-network for people with that insurance provider.

The move affected 11,000 Blue Cross HMO patients and tens of thousands of PPO patients.

Levine would not comment Monday on the financial impact of the decision.

Whittaker said it is too soon to know how the Blue Cross Blue Shield situation would be handled if a merger were to take place.

"All I can tell you is we have a very good relationship with Blue Cross and intend to maintain that," he said.

Lake Forest Hospital would not publicize any deadlines for the merger, but Whittaker said he hopes to have some response from Condell over the next few weeks.