Catholic Review

Inspiring the Archdiocese of Baltimore

Ascension, the largest Catholic health system in Illinois, cleared a significant step in the process of trying to sell more than half of its hospitals in the state to a for-profit health system.

Ascension to sell 9 Illinois hospitals to for-profit health system


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OSV News Filed Under: Uncategorized

CHICAGO (OSV News) — The largest Catholic health system in Illinois cleared a significant step in the process of trying to sell more than half of its hospitals in the state to a for-profit health system.

The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board on Dec. 17 approved the sale of 11 facilities — nine hospitals and two outpatient surgical centers — of St. Louis-based Ascension’s Illinois hospitals to Ontario, California-based Prime Healthcare. Only two of the hospitals mentioned in the sale will continue to operate as not-for-profit.

The Illinois board lists the purchase price at $375 million and expects the sale to be completed by Dec. 31.

The sale would mark Prime Healthcare’s entry into Illinois.

Ascension is the parent company of Ascension St. Agnes medical center in Southwest Baltimore. A spokesperson for St. Agnes said the sales in Illinois would not affect the Baltimore facility.

According to a July news release that first announced the proposed sale, four other Ascension locations in Illinois, including senior living facilities and post-acute care facilities, will be sold as well. Ascension said Prime Healthcare would invest $250 million in facility and system upgrades, capital improvements as well as “substantial technology improvements.”

Ascension’s media relations department sent OSV News a statement saying the Catholic health system’s Illinois group expressed gratitude for the review board’s approval of the sale.

“Ascension Illinois leaders are grateful for the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board’s unanimous decision to approve the transfer of ownership of nine acute care hospitals and two ambulatory surgery centers from Ascension Illinois to Prime Healthcare,” said the statement. “We firmly believe the Board’s approval of this project will preserve jobs and ensure needed healthcare access across Chicagoland, as well as investment in Illinois for the future.”

However, the sale was opposed by the National Nurses United union. The union, which has tussled with Ascension before, had urged the Illinois state board in an Oct. 18 letter to reject the sale over what it described as “Prime Healthcare’s history of putting profits over patients, leading to illegal and unethical practices that risk people’s health, in addition to the elimination of crucial health services in the community.”

According to a September release on its financials, Ascension reported a net $1.1 billion loss for fiscal year 2024. It reported a balance sheet of nearly $41 billion of assets and over $15 billion in liquidity.

According to a 2021 analysis published in the Journal of Healthcare Management and titled “The Changing Landscape of Catholic Hospitals and Health Systems, 2008-2017” a Catholic hospital today “is more likely to be partnered with a non-Catholic hospital or to be owned by a for-profit system than to be solely partnered with or operated by another Catholic system.”

The analysis found of the more than 4,200 hospitals it studied over nearly a decade, about 530 changed ownership or management. Its abstract said there was greater decentralization at the Catholic hospitals taking place over this time frame, and that Catholic hospitals today “appear to be more similar to their non-Catholic counterparts.”

According to Ascension, the sale is subject to canonical approval. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Chicago told OSV News Dec. 27 that it had no comment on the pending sale.

The Catholic Review contributed to this report.

Read More Health Care

Values, service highlight nursing career spanning 59 years

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For 59 years, Jacqueline “Jackie” Brock has built her nursing career around a simple calling: caring for people when they are at their most vulnerable. At Ascension St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore, she has served patients in orthopedic nursing, the emergency department, operating room and registration area, bringing the hospital’s mission and values into each role.

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Radio Interview: Faith in times of crisis

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In this episode of Catholic Review Radio, Father J. Collin Poston shares his deeply personal journey through severe illness, faith and recovery. His story highlights how attentiveness, faith, and community support can transform suffering into a source of strength and hope for others.

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The drive that saved his life: Father J. Collin Poston returns to Carroll County parish after brush with death

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Father Poston spent two weeks in the hospital, receiving the anointing of the sick multiple times and welcoming visits from friends, family, parishioners, fellow priests and his Pomeranian, Otto. He described the experience as deeply spiritual.

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From Catonsville to Uganda, faith and loss inspires mission of hope

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When Ann Bartlinski was in Uganda in January 2025, visiting and delivering food to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Masaka, she saw a mother with a very sick child.

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Pope Leo encyclical on AI shows need for humanity in healthcare, says expert

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Shortly after the May 25 release of Pope Leo XIV’s encyclical “Magnifica Humanitas,” which calls for artificial intelligence ethics to be grounded in Catholic social teaching on God-given human dignity, OSV News spoke with clinical medical ethicist Daniel J. Daly, the founding executive director of the Center for Theology and Ethics in Catholic Health.

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Maryland Catholic Conference engages wide-ranging state legislation in 2026

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Life issues, immigration, juvenile justice and education were key issues addressed during the Maryland General Assembly session that ended April 13 that the Maryland Catholic Conference followed and took stances on.

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