Sale of South Side Chicago hospital to nonprofit finalized

CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago's oldest hospital has finalized the facility's sale to a nonprofit.

Mercy Hospital and Medical Center and Insight Chicago announced the agreement Saturday in a joint statement. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that the agreement requires Insight to continue operating Mercy as a 'Å“full-service community acute-care facility."

Insight Chicago previously received approval from the the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to purchase Mercy from its owner, Trinity Health.

Insight Chicago, which is affiliated with a Michigan health system, filed documents prior to that decision indicating that the hospital's name will change because it will no longer operate as a Catholic facility.

Officials have said the hospital will offer an emergency department, rehabilitation center, stroke programs, behavioral health assistance, an obstetrics unit, intensive care unit and inpatient medical surgical beds.

Mercy filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this year with plans to close in May, citing operating losses of $7 million per month.

Activists called for city and state officials to block closure of the South Side hospital, particularly in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Mercy dates to 1852, when a rooming house was converted into a hospital by the Sisters of Mercy. It survived the Chicago Fire of 1871.