Dive Brief:
- Ingalls Health System in south suburban Harvey, Illinois is looking to team up with a larger health system, a trend that continues to diminish the number of independent hospitals in the Chicago area.
- The hospital says it's having difficulty securing enough patients and that it's looking for a partner with more lucrative contracts with insurers, expertise to help the hospital cut costs and enough clout to help recruit physicians to serve a poor community.
- There are more than a dozen stand-alone general hospitals remaining in the Chicago area, Crain's reports, though some have affiliated with large health systems rather than going for a merger or sale.
Dive Insight:
Ingalls CEO and president Kurt Johnson has revealed that he's already seeking conversations with an undisclosed number of health systems.
Industry experts suggest the hospital will face both advantages and disadvantages for having waited so long to join the trend toward consolidation. While Ingalls can now look to a larger number of health systems as potential suitors, those systems are now in a position to be picky and may not be interested in absorbing a nonprofit committed to serving low-income patients.
"It's going to be a challenge" for the hospital to find a match, Casey Nolan of Washington, D.C.-based Navigant told Crain's. "There's a lot of system partnering that's already gone on."