Mercyhealth

The Palmer Memorial Hospital in 1905

The original Janesville City Hospital was founded in 1883 by Dr. Henry Palmer, a Civil War surgeon general who had trained Daniel Hale Williams. The hospital was later renamed Palmer Memorial Hospital and was operated by his son Dr. William Palmer. Soon after it was bought by the Sisters of Mercy of Chicago who renamed it Palmer Memorial Mercy Hospital. The Mercy Sisters worked as trained nurses during the Civil War, and after the war they took on the work of public health care. Need for expansion led to the Sisters of Mercy opening a 50-bed Mercy Hospital facility in Janesville in 1913, which eventually grew through renovation into a 150-bed facility by 1920.[4]

In the second half of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy began to divest itself of its health care holdings, including the Janesville hospital, and Mercy became an independent organization. At that same time, Mercyhealth grew out of their old hospital and built a 275-bed facility in downtown Janesville, WI. This facility is the current site of Mercyhealth Hospital and Trauma Center.

In 1989, Mercyhealth's volunteer board of directors selected Javon R. Bea as its president and CEO. When Bea became CEO, Mercyhealth could only claim $33 million in annual revenue, had only 589 total employees in a single hospital location, and only saw an estimated 89,000 patients yearly. As of 2020, Mercyhealth sees an average of 1.2 million patients every year, employs over 8,000 people across 85 locations, and can claim $1.3 billion in annual revenue.[5]

On March 23, 2020, Mercyhealth announced unpaid furloughs to an undisclosed number of employees.[6] Mercyhealth then reduced salaries for employees in leadership positions and physicians systemwide. This includes the President and CEO, Javon Bea. In 2018, Javon Bea's salary was $9.36 million.[7][8]

On April 22, 2020, Mercyhealth announced that the health system will no longer accept an estimated 66,000 medicaid patients as a result of termination of contracts with IlliniCare, Meridian, Molina, and Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicaid. Mercyhealth cited financial difficulties as the cause for the termination of these contracts and denial of these Medicaid patients.[9][10][11]

In June 2020, Mercyhealth announced the closure of the only a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in the area and within the Mercyhealth system. Mercyhealth cited financial difficulties as the reason for this closure.[12]

In July 2020, Mercyhealth submitted a Certificate of Exemption application with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board in order to close their 20-bed inpatient acute mental illness services at the Javon Bea Hospital - Rockton Campus. Mercyhealth cited continued financial difficulties and low census as the driver for this closure.[13][14]

After sustained contracting of the Mercyhealth system led by President and CEO Javon Bea, Mercyhealth announced that it would discontinue inpatient emergency services at the Javon Bea Hospital - Rockton Campus. Mercyhealth cited for the fourth time in 2020, financial difficulties as the rational for the cessation of inpatient services and move to strictly outpatient services at the Rockton Campus.[3][15]

In August 2020, the construction of their new micro hospital in Crystal Lake, IL was delayed because of further and sustained finaical difficulties.[16]

After six straight months of financial difficulties, starting with unpaid furloughs in March 2020, Mercyhealth employees wrote a public facing letter urging the CEO to sell the healthcare system on September 6, 2020. The authors cite poor management as the principal cause for the closure of inpatient services at the Javon Bea Hospital - Rockton Campus.[17]

In 1998, Modern Healthcare magazine ranked Mercy at the top of its "Fastest Fifty", ranking providers by net patient revenue growth (1991–1996). In 2006, Mercy Health System was ranked first in the nation by the AARP for providing employment options for people over age 50,[18] and it received an award from the Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E) green hospitals program.[19] In 2007, Mercy Health System was awarded the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.[20] It was ranked 11th of the Top 100 Integrated Health Networks for 2008 by Modern Healthcare magazine. Working Mother magazine listed Mercy among its 100 Best Companies for 2012 for its child care, flexible scheduling options, leave policies, and advancement programs.[21] Among numerous other awards received in 2013, Mercy Health System was again ranked by the AARP on their "Best Employers for Workers over 50" ranking number five. In 2014, Mercy received Magnet recognition from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. The Magnet Recognition Program recognizes health care organizations for quality patient care, nursing excellence and innovations in professional nursing practice.[20]

On October 23, 2014, the boards of Rockford Health System and Mercy Health System unanimously signed off on a merger of the two systems. Javon Bea, president and CEO of Janesville, Wisconsin-based Mercy Health, will lead the new parent system and sit on its board. The merged system will be forth known as Mercyhealth.

The merged system includes five hospitals, more than 550 physicians and 80 outpatient clinics in Illinois and Wisconsin. Rockford Health System has a 396-bed hospital and a 61-bed rehab center. Mercy has hospitals in Janesville and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, and a 15-bed facility in Harvard, Illinois. Mr. Bea said this partnership adds specialty pediatric and neonatal care that Mercy does not offer.[22] The merged system will open a new hospital in Rockford specializing in the health of women and children. In September 2018 it was announced that Javon Bea Hospital will be the name of the new hospital within the Mercyhealth Riverside Campus, the $505 million complex on the property. In addition, the hospital within the Mercyhealth Rockton Avenue Campus (formerly Rockford Memorial) will also be called Javon Bea Hospital. The naming announcement was made at a news conference at the Riverside Boulevard hospital attended by about 200 people, including Bea's wife Vita Bea and their five children.[23]

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