State regulators have approved OSF HealthCare's plans to add intensive care and surgical beds to its Peru hospital campus.
The $5.5 million project would add seven surgical beds and five intensive care beds to Saint Elizabeth Medical Center in Peru by the end of 2025, for a total of 45 and 8, respectively.
The nod from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board is one of three approvals OSF needs as part of its larger plans to overhaul its presence in the Illinois Valley following the acquisition of the former Saint Margaret's hospital in Peru.
That roadmap also calls for demolishing the current Saint Elizabeth Medical Center campus in Ottawa and replacing it with a smaller $138 million facility with fewer service offerings. Obstetrics and intensive care would move to Peru, while Ottawa would retain acute mental health inpatient treatment and a smaller number of medical/surgical beds.
The proposal is controversial. OSF has asked for a month's deferral on those two measures to continue talking it out with Ottawa officials who oppose the moves. They are expected to come back before the HFSRB at their Sept. 19 meeting.
