Pitch for tiny hospital hits snag

Mercyhealth’s proposed 13-bed hospital in Crystal Lake, Ill., would potentially strip business from competing facilities that already have plenty of patient beds to spare.Of seven hospitals within 45 minutes of the proposed tiny hospital, only three have filled at least 70% of their most common type of bed. There are even more vacant beds in their intensive-care units, where utilization rates range from about 3% to 63%. That’s according to a new report from the staff of the Illinois Facilities & Services Review Board, which decides the fate of healthcare projects in the state.”It appears that there will be an unnecessary duplication of service with the establishment of this hospital,” the staff report said.Mercyhealth’s proposal also doesn’t meet state law requiring that hospitals