BJC wants to build a $31 million, 40-bed rehab facility in Shiloh. Illinois says not so fast.
A proposed $31 million rehabilitation center to be constructed in Shiloh is struggling to get approval from the state.
The planned rehab center, dubbed The Rehabilitation Institute of Southern Illinois, is a joint venture between BJC Healthcare and Encompass Health Corporation. It aims to bring more rehabilitation beds to the metro-east for patients recovering from medical procedures at nearby hospitals.
It would be located on 8.9 acres of vacant property at 2001 Frank Scott Parkway East and would bring 40 rehabilitation beds to an area local health care professionals and local officials who support the project say badly needs it.
The institute would contain all private rooms and, according to the project, be the first free-standing comprehensive physical rehab hospital in the service area. It would include a large indoor therapy area, dedicated bariatric and isolation rooms, a dialysis unit and more.
However, the planned facility hit a road bump recently when the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, the board that grants projects health care facility classifications, denied approval of the project, saying it exceeded the need.
A request to appear before the board to appeal its decision and submit more information was filed Friday. A date for that hearing is pending.
The project was denied approval in a 2-4 vote in mid-September due to the size of the project and questions over whether the facility’s offerings were actually needed.
According to documents from the state board, the number of beds requested for the facility exceeded the number of beds needed for the service area, which includes Madison, St. Clair, Clinton and Monroe counties.
A total of 17 people or groups wrote letters of support for the project, including the St. Clair County Board, the mayors of Shiloh and O’Fallon, more than a dozen doctors, a state representative and the executive director of the Southern Illinois Leadership Council.
One letter of recommendation was from Lisa Altland, director of care and management and social services at Memorial Hospital in Belleville and Shiloh. The hospital is owned by BJC Healthcare.
She said it can be difficult to find a rehabilitation bed for their patients in the metro-east. If the center were built, she noted, it would make patient’s lives easier after medical procedures.
“There are times we have difficulties finding an acute rehabilitation bed for our patients in a timely way,” she wrote. “The addition of a free-standing acute rehabilitation hospital will assure timely placement of patients in need of this important service.”
She added that patients often have to go to Missouri to find a rehabbed, which can be troublesome for the patients, their families and their physicians who may want to monitor them more closely after treatment.
“Going to Missouri for care is not safe or convenient for these people,” she wrote. “Many of our patients are elderly, and their loved ones are not comfortable driving long distances for care.”
Shiloh Mayor James Vernier II wrote in his letter that residents shouldn’t have to cross the Mississippi River to get “much-needed service.”
“As health care evolves so does the need for additional specialized providers in our villages, cities and neighborhoods,” he said.
The state board, however, doesn’t disagreed with the notion that the service area needs more rehabilitation beds.
The state reported there are 36 rehab beds between two hospitals in the metro-east: 20 at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in O’Fallon and 16 at Anderson Hospital in Maryville.
Construction underway in Edwardsville
A similar project is moving forward in Edwardsville. The new project, dubbed the Anderson Rehabilitation Hospital, received board approval recently. The 34-bed physical rehabilitation hospital is expected to be completed by October 2021 and will cost approximately $25.9 million.
Due to the number of beds already in the area, the report stated, there is not as much of a need for a new facility as the proposed project is requesting. The findings from a staff report on the project said the area only needs seven additional rehabilitation beds, exceeding the need by 33.
There were also issues with the gross square footage per bed and the total number of beds for a facility like this.
That doesn’t mean the project won’t happen. BJC Healthcare and Encompass Health Corporation plan to appeal the decision by appearing before the state board for a hearing on the project.
“We appreciate the support received at the recent Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board hearing for our proposed inpatient rehabilitation hospital project and look forward to the opportunity for our application to be reheard in the coming months,” a joint statement read.
The statement went on to highlight the need for a facility like the Rehab Institute in the area.
“We believe our high-level of rehabilitative care is still strongly needed in Southern Illinois and we’ll be presenting additional compelling information that will hopefully allow us to achieve the required votes to move forward with this new hospital,” the statement read.
The facility is hoped to be finished March 2021 if it gains state approval.
BEHIND THE STORY
MOREWhy we did this story
The Belleville News-Democrat reported on this story to keep the reader’s abreast of a project that could affect healthcare and the economy in the metro-east.
This story was originally published September 30, 2019 at 1:17 PM.