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New Owners Say They Will Keep Mercy Hospital & Medical Center Running As Full-Service Hospital Until At Least 2029

CHICAGO (CBS) -- The new owners of Chicago's Mercy Hospital & Medical Center vowed Tuesday that the facility will be full-service until at least 2029.

The nonprofit organization Insight Chicago took over Mercy on Monday after paying $1 for the hospital that was set to close.

Last summer, the owners of Mercy said the hospital was operating at losses of $4 million a month, and said they needed $100 million to maintain the facility.

The hospital in the Bronzeville neighborhood first announced plans to close in July of last year. But in December, the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted to rule that the hospital could not close.

In February, the boards of directors for the Mercy Health System and Trinity Health filed for bankruptcy, saying they had previously approved a "transformation plan" in which the hospital would close. As the filing described it, the closure plan "included the discontinuation of inpatient acute care services at Mercy and the wind-down of Mercy as a licensed full-service acute care hospital."

The hospital blamed a decline in patients resulting in an excess inpatient bed capacity, increased competition from local health systems, the movement of care to outpatient settings, and health care needs shifting to outpatient settings.

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