Two Illinois hospitals will be closing their doors

Two hospitals in the Chicago area will be closing their doors next year, according to their parent company.

Kindred Hospitals plans to close its Lakeshore hospital in Chicago, above, and another hospital in Sycamore, Ill. The system says the hospitals have seen a drop in patients.

Kindred Hospitals said this week that it is planning to shut down Kindred Hospital Lakeshore in Chicago and Kindred Hospital Sycamore, based in DeKalb County.

Both hospitals are long-term acute care hospitals. Kindred says the system is planning to close the two hospitals on or around April 2025. The system told Illinois state officials that both hospitals have seen a decline in patients in recent years.

Kindred, based in Louisville, Ky., operates two other long-term care hospitals in the area: Kindred Hospital Chicago – North and Kindred Hospital Chicago – Northlake. The health system says it will be consolidating services in those facilities.

“This difficult decision was made after carefully considering the excess number of beds in the local community,” Kindred said in a statement. “As part of this transition, Kindred Hospital – Sycamore and Kindred Hospital – Lakeshore are anticipated to close in late spring 2025, pending fulfillment of all regulatory requirements.”

Kindred Lakeshore is a 103-bed facility just off Lake Michigan. Kindred’s Sycamore hospital offers 69 beds to long-term care patients. The system said it will ensure patients at those facilities get the care they need.

“Kindred is committed to creating a seamless transition for patients that ensures there is no disruption in the delivery of quality care,” the system said.

Kindred said employees at the two hospitals slated for closure will be offered positions at other facilities in the system. Kindred operates 60 long-term acute care hospitals in 16 states.

In its statement, Kindred said closing the two hospitals will enable the health system to invest more of its resources into its two remaining hospitals in Chicago.

“This change will best support the continued delivery of high-quality long-term acute care and services for the greater Chicago community by enabling Kindred to invest more robustly in its remaining facilities, create a stronger staffing structure, amplify innovation, and enhance the patient and family experience,” Kindred said in its statement. “Importantly, the facilities that are being consolidated are not traditional hospitals and do not offer services such as Emergency Departments or Labor and Delivery.”

Illinois state officials must approve the plans to close the hospitals. The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board reviews plans involving hospital closures and mergers and acquisitions.

Kindred notified the Illinois board earlier this month that it plans to close the Lakeshore and Sycamore facilities on or before April 30, 2025.

The system noted that Kindred Chicago-North and Northlake both operate below the state’s target capacity of 85% and “have sufficient capacity” to accommodate the patients from the other facilities.

Kindred also told the Illinois board that the Lakeshore hospital has seen declining use, with occupancy falling to 36%. The system told the board that its two other hospitals in Chicago are both within 10 miles of the Lakeshore facility.

“This decision will best enable Kindred to care for the greater Chicago community and invest more robustly in the remaining facilities,” the system told the Illinois board.

The Sycamore hospital has also seen fewer patients in recent years. Kindred told the board that utilization has dropped 25% from 2018 to 2023. The Sycamore hospital’s occupancy has fallen to 30%, Kindred said in its notice to state officials. The facility is about 50 miles away from Kindred’s remaining Chicago facilities.

Lifepoint Health, a for-profit hospital system based in Brentwood, Tenn., acquired Kindred Hospitals in 2021. Lifepoint also created a new healthcare company, ScionHealth, to manage the Kindred hospitals.

Apollo Global Management, the private equity firm, acquired Lifepoint in 2018. Apollo operates more than 200 hospitals nationwide between Lifepoint and ScionHealth.

The Private Equity Stakeholder Project released a report earlier this year criticizing Apollo’s practices, saying the company is prioritizing profits over patients and has closed facilities and reduced services.

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