Insight Chicago has announced plans to run Mercy Hospital and Medical Center as a full-service hospital until at least 2029.
With an investment of $50m over the coming two years, Insight aims to expand services at the hospital, which was set to shut down last month, Bloomberg reported.
Insight, a biomedical company, took over the 258-bed Mercy Hospital and Medical Center on 1 June 2021. The company proposed to acquire the hospital in March this year for $1m from Trinity Health.
Many hospitals in the US have met financial challenges owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and Mercy was no exception.
Hospitals experienced increasing costs from treating Covid-19 patients and cut back on profitable elective procedures, the news agency noted.
In February, Trinity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after the hospital started incurring $7m in monthly losses and the state declined to stop operations. The plan was to discontinue hospital services by 31 May.
However, Insight has now agreed to continue the hospital services. Â The company received approval for the acquisition from the Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board in March.
Apart from investments, Insight intends to appoint three independent community board members within three months and re-establish a full emergency department, Bloomberg reported citing an email from the company’s representative.
The company also anticipates restoring a teaching hospital as part of its plan to run full services at Mercy, which is the oldest hospital in Chicago, US established in 1852.
