Nov. 27, 2000

More hospital mergers cooking all
around Oak Park area

By ERIC LINDEN

Oak Park-based West Suburban Hospital Medical Center spurned an
affiliation with the Catholic Loyola University Health System last year
and now could be out of what might soon become "the strongest hospital
network in the area."

Dorland Healthcare Information, an organization that provides business
information on health and managed-care issues in this country and
internationally, said a massive merger of hospitals is being explored by
Accord Health Network, a Westmont-based concern that owns Chicago-area
several hospitals, including Loyola University Medical Center in
Maywood.

"Accord is looking to align with 10 area Catholic hospitals that remain
outside its network," Dorland reported recently. "It is felt that the
alignment of all the area's Catholic hospitals would create the
strongest hospital network in the area."

Oak Park Hospital in Oak Park is a Catholic hospital that might be part
of Accord's potential new network.

Accord Health Network currently oversees operations at the following 10
Chicago-area hospitals.
 

* Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood
* Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, which is immediately west of River
   Forest
* Resurrection Medical Center on the city's Northwest Side
* Our Lady of Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago
* St. Francis Hospital in Chicago
* St. James Hospitals and Health Centers in south suburban Chicago
   Heights
* St. Margaret Mercy Health Care Centers in Chicago
* St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital on Division near Western in Chicago
* St. Bernard Hospital and Healthcare Centers
* Thorek Hospital and Medical Center on the city's North Side
* Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers in south
    suburban Evergreen Park

No details have been made public, but the consolidation of Catholic
hospitals may have started recently when St. Joseph Hospital on
Chicago's North Side agreed to be sponsored by Resurrection Health Care,
which is the parent company of Resurrection Medical Center, which in
turn is owned by Accord.

St. Joseph Hospital, 2900 N. Lake Shore Drive, has been part of the
Catholic Health Partners, which announced that the new merger with
Resurrection should be completed in the first quarter of 2001. Catholic
Health Partners includes the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and
Neuroresearch, 2515 N. Clark in Chicago; more than 25 medical network
satellite locations, the nearest one to Oak Park, River Forest and
Forest Park being Centro Medico at 2738 W. Cermak in Cicero; the Diamond
Headache Clinic; Partners Home Care, a full-service home health agency;
and three community hospitals, Columbus at 2520 N. Lakeview and Saint
Joseph on Chicago's North Side and St. Anthony at 2875 W. 19th St. on
the city's Near South Side.

And further, reports in the some areas of the medical community have
Accord also acquiring Swedish Covenant Hospital at Foster and California
on the city's near Northwest Side. Swedish Covenant, currently part of
the Northwestern Healthcare Network, was founded by the Evangelical
Church and like Loyola has a working arrangement with the Rehabilitation
Institute of Chicago. Other Catholic hospitals that could be in play
include Oak Park Hospital, 520 S. Maple Ave. in Oak Park.

The Accord Health Network is an affiliation of Catholic hospitals and is
one of the six leading hospital systems in the Chicago area. According
to Dorland, the major systems, besides Accord are:

 
* Advocate Health Care, which is based at Advocate Christ Hospital and
Medical Center in south suburban Oak Lawn and which operates such
locally known hospitals as Bethany Hospital on Chicago's West Side,
Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge and the University of Illinois
Hospital and Clinic in Chicago

* Chicago Health System, which operates MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn,
among other medical facilities

* Columbia/HCA, which counts among its properties Columbia Michael Reese
Hospital and Medical Center on Chicago's Near North Side and Columbia
Riveredge Hospital, a psychiatric hospital on Madison Street in Forest
Park

* Northwestern Healthcare Network, which besides Swedish Covenant
operates, among others, Children's Memorial Hospital in Chicago,
Evanston Hospital in Evanston and Northwestern Memorial Hospital in
Chicago

* Rush System for Health, which is based at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's
Medical Center on Chicago's Near West Side and also includes, among
other properties, Oak Park Hospital

Hospital systems in recent years have been consolidating in an effort to
gain market share, to establish a presence in a specific geographic
location and to cut expenses by eliminating duplication of costly
procedures. And in recent times, several hospitals have formed
non-financial alliances that aim to retain leverage when contracting
with managed care companies. Another development of those partnerships
is to operate shared managed care organizations.

West Sub, Erie at Austin in Oak Park, in 1996 formed an alliance with
Loyola University Health System in an effort to bring about some of
those advantages. But the Oak Park hospital ended the affiliation last
year, stating several reasons. Included among those reasons were a
desire to remain non-sectarian and not be bound by Loyola's
Catholic-based healthcare directives, to respond to specific health
needs of patients and to maintain a strong focus on the local community.
Whatever the reason, West Sub returned in 1999 to its status as an
autonomous organization governed by its own community-based board of
directors.

While bucking the trend of hospital consolidation, West Sub still
maintains what publicly is a strong health presence and a health care
network called West Suburban Health Care. That network includes
facilities at West Sub's main campus, off-campus sites at 30 locations
in Cook County suburbs and Chicago, a family residence program, a
maternal-child health fellowship and the Concordia University West
Suburban College of Nursing that is run in conjunction with Concordia in
River Forest.

Also in River Forest, West Sub in recent years has developed a campus in
the village's Lake Street corridor that includes the West Suburban
Center for Primary Care, the Center for Breast Care and Women's Health
and the Center for Cancer Care. In Oak Park, West Sub also offers
several programs an different locations, including the recent opening of
the Center for Integrative Medicine in Downtown Oak Park.