Little Company of Mary Hospital in Chicago. (Photo from LCM Health News)

OSF HealthCare and the Chicago-based Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers are working toward a full merger, the two organizations announced on July 17.

The merger is expected to take place in early 2020. The organizations will spend the next several months finalizing agreements and seeking the necessary regulatory and canonical approvals.

Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Care Centers is comprised of 2,100 employees, Sisters, volunteers, and physicians serving the southwest Chicago area. Among its 12 health care facilities is a 252-bed acute care hospital.

The organization traces its history to 1893, when three Sisters of the Little Company of Mary came to the United States in 1893 at the request of a Chicago civic leader whose wife had been cared for by the Sisters in Rome. The Sisters continued caring for the sick and dying in the Chicagoland area for 37 years before building the original Little Company of Mary Hospital in 1930.

“Partnership development, particularly with other mission-driven organizations, is a key component of how we are successfully responding to the call to share our ministry,” said Bob Sehring, chief executive of OSF HealthCare, owned and operated by The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis and headquartered in Peoria.

“We have long admired the strong Catholic heritage and commitment to the gift of life demonstrated by Little Company of Mary and believe that, together, we can create better health and deliver value for our communities.”

More information on the proposed merger will be available as the process progresses.

OTHER OSF EXPANSIONS

Meanwhile, in mid-July OSF HealthCare also announced:

• new commitments of $50 million to expand joint research projects conducted by teams from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, OSF HealthCare, and the University of Illinois Medical College in Peoria. The new funding includes a $25 million gift from the DiSomma Family Foundation, an additional $12.5 million commitment from the OSF HealthCare Foundation, and the equivalent of $12.5 million in endowment support from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The funding allows the partnership, known as Jump ARCHES (Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation) to expand beyond medical simulation and education to include social and behavioral determinants of health.
• that the Perry Memorial Hospital Board has voted to recommend to the City of Princeton that it it begin a process to consider partnership options with OSF HealthCare. Perry Memorial Hospital has been an independent affiliate of OSF HealthCare since 2007. The City of Princeton is scheduled to consider the proposal on Aug. 5.
• the blessing and opening of a new OSF Urgo location in Danville. The urgent care facility at 3653 N. Vermilion St., the eleventh to be opened in the Diocese of Peoria, was blessed and dedicated on July 24 and public open house followed on July 27. OSF Urgos are staffed by advanced practice nurses and walk-ins are welcomed. More information on the types of basic primary care offered is found at osfurgo.org.