Lurie seeks state’s OK to build children’s hospital in Downers Grove
Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital has taken the next step to build a hospital in Downers Grove by filing a formal request for the project with state authorities.
The hospital filed a request for a certificate of need with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board on June 6.
The hospital will have to prove the project is needed and financially and economically feasible.
Oct. 16 is the deadline for submitting written comments about the proposal. The HFSRB is scheduled to consider the application on Nov. 5. The application may be viewed on the board’s website at hfsrb.illinois.gov.
Lurie proposes building the 48-bed hospital and outpatient clinic near the intersection of I-355 and Butterfield Road in Downers Grove.
The facility would have six operating rooms and 50 examination and treatment rooms.
The application states the project will cost roughly $480.1 million and be finished by Dec. 31, 2029.
Lurie has roughly $180 million in cash and equities available for the project. It expects $100 million in charitable gifts for the construction and would borrow $200 million by selling bonds.
According to the application, the projected costs for building patient rooms are higher than average because pediatric hospital rooms are typically larger to accommodate relatives staying overnight with patients. The rooms will also be built large enough to be used as intensive-care units, although the hospital plans to use only 12 of them as ICUs to start.
The application also says pediatric spaces require more durable finishes than for adults, and that security costs can be higher because pediatric facilities require more security, such as infant protection, monitoring and tracking systems.
Lurie says the hospital will take pressure off its main campus in the Streeterville neighborhood in Chicago, and reduce travel times for patients and their families. It estimates that it takes 60 to 90 minutes for users from the western portion of its service region to travel to the Chicago site.
The hospital says that about 18% of its admissions currently come from the western part. The western area includes DuPage County, part of Kane County, Kendall County and parts of west and northwest Cook County.
It says that of the 19 community hospitals in that region, only eight have pediatric units. Of those eight, four average less than one pediatric patient a day. One of those four is at the financially troubled West Suburban Medical Center, which has been closed for several months and recently issued layoff notices to its 500-some workers.
Lurie also noted that since 2018, six hospitals in the western region eliminated pediatric units, totaling 54 beds.
The four with active pediatric services are Edward Hospital in Naperville, Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates and Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.
Lurie has also applied for permission to close its outpatient clinic in Westchester if it gets permission to build the Downers Grove facility.