OSF HealthCare to move forward with modernized regional care plan

OSF HealthCare announced today that, assuming approval by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, it will move forward with its plan to consolidate intensive care (ICU) and inpatient obstetrics (OB) services from Ottawa to the hospital facility in Peru.

Throughout recent months, OSF HealthCare has listened carefully to input from community members, local officials, and advocacy groups. In an effort to be responsive and demonstrate good faith, OSF recently offered to maintain ICU services in Ottawa. That offer was reviewed but ultimately rejected by the City of Ottawa and Citizens for Healthcare in Ottawa (CHO), who presented additional demands that were not clinically appropriate or operationally feasible.

“OSF HealthCare has always approached this work with compassion and transparency,” said Bob Sehring, CEO of OSF HealthCare. “Our proposal to continue ICU services in Ottawa went well beyond what is clinically necessary, but we made that offer because we care deeply about this community and wanted to find a reasonable concession with the city and CHO group. It is unfortunate that offer was not accepted.”

OSF’s plan represents a forward-looking regional model of care designed to provide patients with the highest levels of quality, safety, and access across the region. This regional approach to care for the entire community, including LaSalle, Bureau, Putnam, and parts of Stark Counties, is shaping health care for decades to come. It addresses national issues such as difficulties recruiting physicians (especially in smaller communities), an increase in OB deserts, reduced amounts of specialty providers, and population decreases in many areas of the communities we serve.

An innovative regional birthing model will serve the entire community, ensuring moms and babies receive exceptional, coordinated care wherever they live. OB providers will have offices in every area of the region, supported by a mobile OB unit that travels to patients, and a 24-hour mom-and-baby phone line for expecting and new mothers. A new virtual labor and delivery monitoring service will also enhance the inpatient OB unit based in Peru. This new model, the first of its kind in Illinois, addresses the growing shortage of OB physicians in smaller communities while ensuring high-quality, safe care for mothers and infants across the region.

Sehring emphasized that OSF’s decisions are guided by its Mission and its responsibility to ensure high-quality, coordinated, and sustainable care for every patient across the region.

“We remain committed to the communities we serve and to doing what’s right for our patients and Mission Partners,” Sehring said. “OSF will continue to invest in the people, facilities, and technology that deliver exceptional care, today and for generations to come.”

OSF HealthCare is continuing to proceed with the previously approved plan to modernize regional care delivery through a right-sized, centrally located advanced hospital in Peru, supported by emergency, outpatient, and specialty services throughout the region. Pending HFSRB approval, the current hospital in Ottawa will continue to deliver health care services, including a full-service emergency department, an inpatient unit, behavioral health services, outpatient services, advanced imaging services, and many specialty clinics. Innovative services such as telehealth specialty services, remote monitoring, and mobile health will be part of the OSF HealthCare regional model of care for the entire breadth of these counties.