The following is a message from Rick Floyd, President and CEO of Sherman Health

We are pleased that the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board (IHFSRB) today delivered an “intent to deny” vote to the Certificate of Need (CON) applications for two hospitals proposed for McHenry County. Centegra Health System planned to build a hospital in Huntley and Mercy Health System proposed to construct a hospital in Crystal Lake.

Thanks to your help and our partnership with other area health systems, we have shown the IHFSRB that both of these projects are flawed and in need of further study.

During today’s meeting, my message to the Review Board members was clear about why no new hospitals are needed in McHenry County: Another hospital will not improve health care delivery and, contrary to what residents might believe, it will harm the area’s high quality health care system. A new hospital will negatively affect the area by increasing healthcare costs and lowering utilization of existing hospitals that have ample capacity. This ultimately hurts access to care.

This is not the end of our work on this issue, however. Both Mercy and Centegra are likely to ask the board to reconsider its decision.

Everyone who spoke at a public hearing, wrote a letter, or provided support in other ways should know that they played a big part in this decision by the Review Board. We are confident that with your continued support we will continue to show members of the Review Board that residents in southeastern McHenry and northern Kane counties are well-served by Sherman and other regional medical centers.

The Review Board will now ask Centegra and Mercy to answer additional questions about their applications and will schedule another vote on their projects. This also means that the public comment period will re-open soon.

We will let you know more information as we get closer to the next meeting date.