The Situation:

McHenry Hospital, which became Northern Illinois Medical Center, was one of the smallest hospitals in terms of bed capacity of the 39 state designated trauma centers in Illinois, needed a new, larger building and a new building site. The existing hospital was located on a narrow stretch of land surrounded on three sides by public facilities and on the fourth by a major waterway. On any given day surgeries had to be canceled because, although the physicians, operating rooms and patients were ready, there were no beds available in Intensive Care or on the regular patient floor. In addition, the hospital was located in the second fastest growing county in Illinois. Over half of the residents of the county had to seek healthcare outside of the county.

Although there was significant local community support for a new hospital, many politicians in surrounding areas fought the project thinking that it might compete with the generally larger hospitals in their communities. To make matters worse, the existing Hospital Board of Directors, which had been planning the new medical center for over 10 years, began fighting with it’s own supporters. The Board disagreed with physicians and community members over the best approach to successfully obtaining the Certificate of Need – the state authorization to build a hospital facility.

 The Solution:

Successfully obtaining approval and financing while continuing day-to-day operations at the existing site during this period of upheaval required a carefully thought out and executed multi-phased strategy.

Phase 1, obtaining the Certificate of Need, required gaining the support of the wider community or service area. A key step was the development of a media campaign which included direct mail, newspaper ads, radio and cable TV programs and interviews with area newspaper editors. At the same time an entirely new, politically active Board of Directors was elected. This new group helped to inform regional and state elected representatives, including the governor, about the vital need for the new hospital.

These actions, along with keeping in constant contact with the State health planning staff, resulted in a unanimous vote of approval from the Certificate of Need Commission where the previous vote had been a unanimous rejection.

Immediately after obtaining State approval to build the emphases shifted to Phase 2 – obtaining the long term financing for the project. This phase required improving the organization’s historically strong financial performance and making the hospital’s case to the bond rating agencies in New York. After obtaining an investment grade bond rating a final surprise step was required. In order for the City of McHenry to sign off on the bond sale a successful effort to annex another community was required. With only a week to undertake a full fledged political campaign, overwhelming yes votes were received in both communities. All of the hospital’s bonds sold in four hours on the day they were put on the market.