Prime Healthcare ‘unable' to provide answers on cuts to OB/GYN, pediatric units at hospitals, Illinois Rep. says

Hours after California-based hospital owner Prime Healthcare announced it would be suspending obstetrics services at three of its busy Chicago-area hospitals, Illinois Rep. Lauren Underwood released a statement slamming Prime, saying they have been “unable” to provide answers around recent cuts and have “made no plans” to help moms travel miles away for maternal care.

The suspension of labor, delivery and maternity services at Saint Joseph’s Medical Center in Joliet, Mercy Medical Center in Aurora and Resurrection Medical Center in Chicago was announced by the hospital system in a release Tuesday. According to Prime, materinuty services will instead be “consolidated,” with plans to develop a “Centers of Excellence for Maternal Care” at Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital in Chicago and Olympia Fields Hospital in the south suburbs.

The announcement comes two months after Prime leaders filed to permanently shut down pediatric inpatient services at St. Joe’s in Joliet.

“Unfortunately, these latest developments are consistent with the pattern of revenue-focused decisions and broken promises our community has witnessed since Prime announced its acquisition of the nonprofit Ascension system in 2024,” Underwood’s statement said.

Underwood, a nurse, said she had requested several meetings with Prime leadership about the inpatient pediatric closures dating back to July.

‘They have made no plans to help moms’

After delaying the meeting multiple times, Underwood said, Prime agreed to a meeting at 11 a.m. on Sept. 1, the same time the system released details about suspending OB/GYN services.

“They were unable to provide substantive answers on the Saint Joseph pediatric closure – the topic I had requested the meeting to discuss – instead steering the discussion to the obstetrics closure announcements being made in real time,” Underwood’s statement said. “Then, 23 minutes into the meeting, we received an email from Prime with materials attempting to justify the obstetrics closures.”

“This is not how a company with nothing to hide operates,” Underwood said.

Underwood also said Prime has not made adequate arrangements to prepare for closing OB/GYN units at the three hospitals, and has not set up appropriate transfer agreements.

“They have made no plans to help moms who will have to travel for care access transportation, or even any efforts to understand how this decision will affect their health,” Underwood’s statement said. “This carelessness puts moms and babies in our community at risk.”

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Underwood concluded by calling on the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board to stop the actions.

A news release from Prime said closure decision was made due to years of financial distress, changes in ownership and declining birth rates and volumes, with less than one delivery per day.

“With this consolidation, we have ensured that access to quality care and capacity is available at nearby hospitals with large and well-established birthing centers,” Prime said, adding that the change “addresses maternal health disparities.”

Underwood, who founded the state’s Black Maternal Health Caucus, called the claim “detached from reality, especially for families in Joliet and Aurora.

The Illinois Nurses Association also criticized Prime’s decision.

“We find it shameful that the only hospital in Illinois’ third largest city will soon abandon medical care for mothers and babies simply because those services won’t maximize their profits,” the nurses association said in a statement, in reference to St. Joe’s.

Brenda Hernandez, an ICU nurse at St. Mary’s, said the decision will ultimately take a toll on patient care.

“It’s scary,” Hernandez told NBC Chicago. “If you were taking care at Resurrection, which is near O’Hare, you have to get on the expressway and drive and drive 30-40 minutes.. That is a long drive if you are in the middle of an emergency or you have to go into labor.”

According to Prime, St Joe’s in Joliet will maintain OB/GYN on-call coverage, but Mercy and Resurrection will not as “both have hospitals nearby with coverage and access.”

“Pregnant patients presenting to any of the hospitals will continue to receive appropriate emergency evaluation and stabilization, with transfer when clinically appropriate,” Prime told NBC Chicago.

Prime said it plans to offer the 75 employees impacted by the move other positions within the hospitals, with “over three times the number of impacted positions” currently open. It also said it plans to offer $1 million in grants for maternal health initiatives in the community.

“This is what a truly regionalized system of maternal care should accomplish: better quality care and outcomes for moms and babies,” Dr. Sunny Bhatia, president and chief medical officer of Prime Healthcare, said in a release.

More unit closures at suburban Chicago hospitals

Tuesday’s announcement follows several changes at area hospitals now owned by Prime Healthcare.

Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet also last month filed paperwork with the state of Illinois to permanently close its pediatric inpatient unit citing low patient volume at the 13-bed unit.

At the time, a spokesperson for the hospital said newborn, NICU and maternity services at Saint Joseph’s would not be impacted.

In March of 2025, Prime Healthcare purchased eight Ascension Illinois hospitals in a deal worth over $370 million. Four months later, the system’s new owner said it planned to cut 100 jobs across several of its newly acquired hospitals, prompting a letter of concern from Sens. Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin.

Nurses at Saint Joseph’s, who are represented by the Illinois Nurses Association, previously alleged “chronic understaffing at the hospital” has led to emotional distress for the nurses who work there. In June, some moved to file a class action lawsuit against Prime, saying the hospital has refused to meet safe nurse-to-patient needs.

Last year, Ascension Alexian Brothers Hospital in Elk Grove Village also announced plans to eliminate its labor and delivery units and Vista Medical Center East in suburban Waukegan ended certain maternity, obstetrics and gynecology services.