Just three days after the state defers a decision to move medical services at Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital, the Southern Illinois Healthcare Foundation is taking a scalpel to Level 2 Trauma service in East St. Louis, effective February 1.
Reported reasons are “due to the high losses incurred by providing this service, over 1.5M annually and a medical manpower shortage of qualified physicians,” according to a statement released January 18. “We are concerned and disappointed by the repetitive cycle of questions being asked by the Planning Board, which has resulted in deferral of action on the Certificate of Need.”
A decision on whether to merge medical services from Kenneth Hall to Touchette Hospital in Centreville was deferred until April 8 by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board.
“By April 2008, it will have been one year since the CON process was initiated and KHRH will have lost well over 3 million dollars during that time frame.”