Mercyhealth has filed with the state for “a temporary suspension of services” at Javon Bea Hospital-Rockton in Rockford, Ill., a spokesperson for the health system confirmed to Becker’s.
The hospital building closed at 6 a.m. on July 1, according to NBC affiliate WREX.com. The physician clinic adjacent to the hospital campus will remain open.
In recent years, services at the hospital have been scaled back, cut or consolidated to other facilities, according to the Rockford Register Star.
Rockford, Ill.-based Mercyhealth, which now operates six hospitals in Illinois and Wisconsin, had previously signaled its intention to end inpatient and emergency services at the hospital due to decreased emergency department and surgery volumes.
The latest application filed with the Illinois Health and Services Review Board ends services at the hospital while the health system seeks a partner that will redevelop the building into a facility that provides other community services, such as a social service agency or a senior living facility, a spokesperson for Mercyhealth told Becker’s.
“We will still maintain many clinical and administrative services on that campus,” Mercyhealth Vice President Kara Sankey said in a statement provided to Becker’s. “Mercyhealth understands the value of the Rockton Avenue Campus location and recognizes the importance of keeping services for our community.”
No employees have been laid off, a spokesperson for the health system told WREX.com.
The health system said it will continue to have more than 500 employees at the Rockton Campus’ physician clinic, which will house various clinical and administrative services. It will also maintain its REACT hangar — which provides helicopter transport medicine for critically ill and injured patients — as well as its emergency medical services training center on the campus.
