Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin has dropped its Level II trauma center designation, with hospital officials saying trauma volumes at the hospital have declined “significantly.”
A spokesperson for Prime Healthcare, the hospital’s owner, said in a statement that the hospital has recently treated an average of only two major trauma patients per month.
“Meanwhile, nearby trauma centers and emergency departments operate at substantially higher trauma patient volumes,” Prime’s statement said. “Therefore, Saint Joseph Hospital has made the carefully considered decision to suspend its Level II Trauma designation.”
Prime also said pursuing a “forthcoming” Level III trauma center designation, which does not currently exist in Illinois. NBC Chicago reached out to Prime and the Illinois Department of Public Health for clarification, though neither responded by the time of publication.
Saint Joseph Hospital will still operate a full-service emergency department 24 hours per day, seven days a week, Prime said.
“Every patient seeking emergency care will continue to receive immediate evaluation, stabilization, and treatment.” the statement said. “Ambulances will continue transporting patients to Saint Joseph Hospital, and patients requiring specific Level II trauma services will continue to receive the most appropriate care at Level II facilities under established EMS protocols.”
Overall, the move limits how and what kind of injuries the hospital can treat.
According to the Trauma Center Association of America, Level II trauma centers require qualified surgeons to participate in medical decisions and actively participate in the critical care for all seriously injured patients. On-call trauma surgeons must also be available at level II centers, the association said, along with backup help.
Level III trauma centers require only “continuous general surgery coverage,” according to the association, with doctors providing “prompt assessment, resuscitation, emergency operations, and stabilization while also arranging transfers to facilities that can provide definitive trauma care when needed.
The closest Trauma II hospital to Saint Joseph in Elgin, according to an Illinois Department of Public Health map, is Advocate Sherman Hospital, about 4 miles away. Ascension Health Saint Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates, about 13 miles away, is also a level II trauma center, the map showed.
The move follows other recent cuts by Prime Healthcare at its Illinois hospitals, including suspending OB/GYN and labor and delivery units at three of its Chicago-area hospitals. Earlier this year, Prime also said it was shutting down its pediatric inpatient unit at St. Joe’s in Joliet.
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