Neighborhood hospital proposed at NorthPointe Campus in Roscoe

The Roscoe Township Community Center will host a public hearing of the Illinois Health Facilities and Review Board (HFSRB) on August 13, 2024, 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm. The subject: Beloit Health System's plans to establish a new Neighborhood Hospital at its NorthPointe Health and Wellness Campus in Roscoe, Illinois. The cost will be approximately $20.7 million. If approved, construction is scheduled to begin in 2025, with an anticipated opening in late 2026 or early 2027. The campus currently includes immediate care, a surgery center, fitness and wellness, a birth center, and a clinic.

The new facility would add 10 private inpatient hospital beds to Roscoe. What makes the project especially attractive to Stateline residents is that it would include a full-service emergency department. Beloit Health System invites residents to sign a petition to show support for the small local hospital. Already, dozens of medical and civic leaders from Rockton, Roscoe, and South Beloit - all the mayors, all the fire chiefs - have written letters of support to the HFSRB:

• John Bergeron, Chief, Harlem-Roscoe Fire Protection District
• Donald Shoevlin, retired chief, Harlem-Roscoe Fire Protection District
• Kirk Wilson, Chief, Rockton Fire Protection District
• Sam Hawley, Chief, Village of Roscoe Police
• Carol Gustafson, Village President, Village of Roscoe
• John Peterson, President, Village of Rockton
• Tom Fitzgerald, Mayor of South Beloit
• Sharon Hecox, executive director, Stateline Mass Transit District

Dozens of physicians and other medical professionals have also written letters of support. Many of them are associated with Beloit Health System and are working at NorthPointe. Others are part of Southern Wisconsin Emergency Associates/DEMI Healthcare Partners.

• Dr. Binn Jatta, medical director of NorthPointe Birthing Center
• Camilla Row, a nurse midwife at the birthing center
• Dr. Marek Bentkowski, family practice
• Michelle Basye, a nurse practitioner in radiation oncology at Beloit Memorial Hospital
• Dr. Paul M. Segal, dermatology
• Trisha Field, a palliative care nurse practitioner at Beloit Memorial Hospital
• Dr. Steve Diebold, emergency medicine with SWEA/DEMI
• Dr. Jenn Mirrielees, emergency medicine with SWEA/DEMI

The letters describe how long it takes for ambulances to transport Roscoe and Rockton residents to hospitals in Rockford or Beloit. But the fire chiefs also emphasize how long it takes for the ambulances to return to the station. Donald Shoevlin, retired Harlem-Roscoe fire chief, wrote, "At the time of my retirement, we were experiencing 12 to 15 calls a day with 82% of them being medical. At any given time one of our three staffed ALS ambulances can be out of service on a call for two hours as we transport to one of three hospitals located in Rockford or Beloit. It is not uncommon to have all three ambulances out simultaneously on calls at any given time."

Professionals also point to long wait times even after patients arrive at the hospitals, saying they are too full or busy. Beloit Health System says adding 10 beds in Roscoe means that fewer patients will have to cross the border into Wisconsin to go to Beloit Memorial Hospital. "Expanding to all private rooms underscores our commitment to providing the best possible patient experience," said Roger Kapoor, MD, MBA, Senior Vice President of Beloit Health System. "With these additional beds, we'll be able to enhance privacy and reduce overcrowding."

In an interview, Kapoor told us he believes that the new facility in Roscoe will make it easier for Stateline residents to see a doctor. "Too many residents in our area struggle to get timely appointments with primary care providers," remarked Kapoor. "Competition for physicians, and advanced practice clinicians, remains fierce and investing in a modern new hospital positions our health system to recruit quality clinical talent to deliver high-quality primary care to this market."

Beloit Health System’s Certificate of Need application [PDF] says repeatedly that the Neighborhood Hospital in Roscoe will attract patients who would have previously ended up at Beloit Memorial Hospital. It says most Stateline patients prefer to go north to Beloit rather than south to Rockford. The application even says, "No patients are expected to utilize the NorthPointe Neighborhood Hospital rather than be admitted at other area hospitals which are quite distant from Roscoe.... As noted above, no patients are expected to be redirected from any other hospital but the Applicant’s hospital [Beloit Memorial]."

But not everybody agrees with that analysis, and not everybody is happy about having a new small hospital in Roscoe. Jeni Hallatt, Mercyhealth Vice President, responds, "Beloit Health System’s proposed NorthPointe Neighborhood Hospital does not fulfill the intent of the Certificate of Need. As a result, Mercyhealth is opposed to the proposal and will share those concerns in detail at the hearing.” Mercyhealth operates Javon Bea Hospital and, according to spokesperson Therese Michels, is building a standalone emergency room next to Beloit Memorial Hospital.

On June 24, Mark J. Silberman of Benesch, an attorney for Mercyhealth, sent a letter requesting a public hearing for the proposal, stating that he represented "Javon Bea Hospital in Rockford, Illinois, a full-service acute care hospital less than ten miles away from the proposed NorthPointe Neighborhood Hospital."

The next day, Anne M. Cooper of Polsinelli, a law firm for Beloit Health System, sent their own letter requesting a public hearing "to permit members of the Stateline community an opportunity to provide their support for the project."

This isn't Beloit Health System's first rodeo. Previously in 2014, Beloit Health System had applied to open a free standing emergency center at NorthPointe, but it was denied by th​​​​​e HFSRB. Swedish American Hospital (now part of UW Health) was one of the parties opposed to it. The HFSRB said at the time, "While it appears the proposed facility will fill a void in an area without Emergency services immediately available, there are underutilized facilities in the service area."

Beloit Health System admits that's still technically true, but says, "This is due, in part, to underutilization of pediatric beds in the planning area and the lack of inpatient services at SwedishAmerican Medical Center Belvidere," which they say shouldn't be included in the bed count, since it hasn't provided any inpatient medical-surgical services since 2020.

Of course, since the 2014 denial, another hospital, Mercyhealth's Javon Bea Hospital, has opened at 8201 E. Riverside Blvd in Rockford. It still has by far the smallest "average daily census" of the three closest hospitals, 66.6 in 2022. But it's much closer to the Stateline than UW/Swedes or St. Anthony are. To get to Javon Bea Hospital from NorthPointe, the fastest way (about 15 minutes) is to take I-90. To get there from Rockton Village Hall, the fastest way (about 19 minutes) is to drive past NorthPointe. That's because the closest onramp to I-90 is at the far northern edge of Roscoe.

Beloit Health System says the supposed oversupply of hospital beds also includes Mercyhealth's 12-bed pediatric unit at Javon Bea, which was only used for 14 days in 2022, and normally only takes children. It is the region’s only level I pediatric trauma center.

The Certificate of Need application also admits, "The minimum bed capacity for a new medical-surgical category of service is 100 beds. The planned NorthPointe will not meet this requirement, but it is notable that while it will be separately licensed, it will operate as a remote location of BMH [Beloit Memorial Hospital] under the same Medicare enrollment and accreditation."

Dr. Michael Abernethy, an emergency medicine physician who says he has lived in the Roscoe area for 30 years, wrote, "Unfortunately, many residents of our community face significant hurdles when seeking emergency care, often having to travel considerable distances to Rockford, Illinois, or across state lines to Beloit or Janesville, Wisconsin. This journey, coupled with consistently long ER wait times, is far from ideal, particularly in emergencies where every second counts. I have also seen firsthand the toll that these delays have taken on my own family in times of medical crisis."

After listening to comments (both spoken and written) at the August hearing in Roscoe, the HFSRB will make its final decision at its state board meeting on October 29. The HFSRB's deadline for written comment is Wednesday, October 9, 2024.