Ascension is selling nine of its Illinois hospitals — more than half of its hospitals in the state — to a large California-based health system, it announced Thursday.
Ascension plans to sell the hospitals, along with four of its post-acute care and senior living facilities, to Prime Healthcare. Neither Prime nor Ascension disclosed the sale price Thursday.
The hospitals slated to be sold to Prime include: Ascension Holy Family in Des Plaines, Ascension Mercy in Aurora, Ascension Resurrection in Chicago, Ascension St. Francis in Evanston, Ascension St. Joseph in Joliet, Ascension St. Joseph in Elgin, Ascension St. Mary in Kankakee, Ascension St. Mary in Chicago and Ascension St. Elizabeth in Chicago. Other facilities slated for sale include Fox Knoll Village in Aurora, Villa Franciscan Place in Joliet, Heritage Village and Heritage Lodge in Kankakee, and Resurrection Place in Park Ridge, all now operated by Ascension Living.
The sale will ensure “that the Chicago metropolitan area will have sustainable, quality access to health care for the long term,” Polly Davenport, president and CEO of Ascension Illinois, said in a news release.
Prime owns 44 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient centers in 14 states and has a mission to “save and improve hospitals so they can provide quality, compassionate care to patients and better health care to communities.” Ascension Hospitals would be Prime’s first hospitals in Illinois.
Unlike Ascension, which is a nonprofit Catholic health system, Prime includes the for-profit Prime Healthcare Services and an affiliated charitable organization called Prime Healthcare Foundation, under which 14 of Prime’s hospitals operate.
Under the agreement, eight of Ascension’s hospitals would become for-profit, while St. Francis in Evanston would retain its nonprofit status as part of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, Prime spokeswoman Elizabeth Nikels said in an email.
When asked if Prime plans to keep all Illinois hospitals open, Nikels wrote: “Prime is committed to the long-term success and service of every hospital in our system and has never closed a hospital.”
“Prime has improved the quality of care at each hospital that joins the system and is investing significant resources in technology, infrastructure and system improvements,” Nikels wrote. “Prime will maintain all hospitals and facilities upon closing and continue to serve their communities.”
Prime has already committed to investing $250 million in the facility for upgrades, capital improvements, technology upgrades and systems upgrades as part of the deal.
Prime plans to hire all hospital and care facility staff, but workers will be asked to reapply for their jobs through “a simplified online application system,” Nikels said. Workers will receive more information about the application process as the acquisition date approaches, she said.
The hospitals will keep their current names, without the “Ascension” branding, Nikels said.
Ascension Hospitals in Illinois would no longer be Catholic hospitals once acquired by Prime, although Prime and Ascension have worked with the Archdiocese of Chicago to determine whether there are Catholic traditions the hospitals can continue.
The deal must be approved by the Archdiocese of Chicago and the Illinois Health Care Facilities and Services Review Board before the sale can proceed. The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to approvals.
Hospital mergers and acquisitions are common in the Chicago area, which has several large health systems competing for patients. But if Ascension’s sale is approved, it would be the third ownership change for those hospitals in a decade — a significant one, even by Chicago-area standards.
The hospitals currently up for sale were formerly part of Presence Health and then, in 2018, part of Amita Health. In 2022, Ascension and AdventHealth ended their partnership with Amita Health, and the hospitals became Ascension Illinois Hospitals.
Ascension, which has 140 hospitals nationwide, will retain five hospitals in Illinois. It will retain Ascension Alexian Brothers Hospital in Elk Grove Village, Ascension Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman Estates, Ascension Alexian Brothers Rehabilitation Hospital in Elk Grove Village, Ascension St. Alexius Hospital in Hoffman Estates and Ascension St. Alexius Women and Children’s Hospital in Hoffman Estates.
Prime was founded in 2001 by Dr. Prem Reddy, who still serves as the company’s chairman and CEO, with a mission “to save hospitals, improve community healthcare and provide the best patient care,” according to Prime’s website.
The company has had several run-ins with the federal government, however. In 2018, Prime and Reddy agreed to pay the government $65 million to settle allegations that 14 Prime hospitals in California knowingly filed false claims with Medicare by admitting patients to hospitals who didn’t need inpatient care and billing Medicare for more expensive diagnostic procedures than the patients actually received. In 2021, Prime, Reddy, and one of Prime’s doctors agreed to pay $37.5 million to settle allegations that Prime paid the doctor kickbacks for patient referrals, among other allegations. Prime admitted no liability in those settlement agreements.
“Prime has successfully entered into a five-year corporate integrity agreement, not only meeting but exceeding industry standards,” Prime said in a statement.
