Kane County delays vote on Centegra expansion

Kane County Board members voted Tuesday to pause for a more thorough deliberation of plans to build a $233 million hospital in Huntley. But some people believe they shouldn’t just pause, but stop the examination of the plan altogether.

Centegra Health System will construct the 360,000-square-foot hospital to serve McHenry and northern Kane County if it gets permission from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board on May 10.

“Our board has made a decision, in a strategic sense, over the last few years,” Centegra CEO Mike Eesley said. “This isn’t something we thought of yesterday.”

Eesley said the new hospital won’t compete with nearby Sherman and Provena St. Joseph hospitals, merely complement them.

Sherman Health CEO Rick Floyd told county board members the Centegra expansion is unnecessary because Sherman and St. Joseph already average more than 150 open beds combined on a given day. The Centegra Hospital would likely force Sherman to reduce staff as it will lose patients and income. The Centegra Hospital would be located where a larger portion of residents carry health insurance, which has a higher level of reimbursements than do Medicare and Medicaid patients, many of whom are served by the Elgin hospitals.

“Just know that a new hospital that is not needed would have a negative impact on our ability to serve the disadvantaged in your county. This is certainly not a time to be wasting money,” Floyd said.

County board members suggested the decision figuring out where to stand on the expansion issue poses an ideological problem. On one hand, the county has a partnership with Sherman and St. Joseph hospitals for many of its public health programs, and many of the hospital employees who could lose jobs live in Kane County. There is also a view that it’s a good idea to weigh in on any proposal that impacts the overall health and well-being of county residents. On the other hand, the idea of a free-market economy where the best hospital survives is an economic premise many board members embrace.

For some board members the question is why try to tackle the question at all. The county board is not obligated to take a position on the Centegra expansion. The hospital would be located in McHenry County. County Board Member T.R. Smith represents many of the senior citizens who would live near the new hospital.

“Their position is they would love to have a hospital out there, right across the street from them,” Smith said. “They don’t care what county it’s in.”

Indeed, Huntley Trustee Harry Leopold told the county board not to forget the nearly 6,000 residents of Sun City, the retirement community where he lives. Sun City is in Kane County.

“Either support the hospital or be neutral,” Leopold said.

Kane County Board Chairman Karen McConnaughay said the expansion is worth deliberation because the hospitals interested in the outcome have asked them to voice an opinion. The value of that opinion in the state review board’s decision is what’s questionable, she said.

“I’m guessing it doesn’t have much weight at all,” McConnaughay said.