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In September the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board allowed Advocate Health Care to downsize Bethany Hospital on the west side and turn it into a specialty hospital for long-term care. This past weekend Advocate announced it will seek to open a new hospital in the far-northwestern suburb of Round Lake. For details check out the Blogging Mayor of Round Lake, by mayor and real estate agent Bill Gentes, which includes links to newspaper stories. Crain’s gives the most background. Round Lake will issue bonds to buy a key parcel for Advocate.
What’s the difference between West Garfield Park and western Lake County? Both areas have surpluses of hospital beds. As the map in Crain’s makes clear, Round Lake isn’t exactly in a hospital desert. And a for-profit chain is already seeking to open a hospital nearby. But the west side has a health care crisis, and Lake County has paying customers. Advocate has plenty of incentives to follow the money; what would it do if union and church people weren’t dogging it at every turn?
