Hospital wars continue in McHenry County.

Centegra’s Woodstock Hospital, which has stopped accepting in-patients.

Wisconsin-based Mercy Health System lobed rhetoric at Centegra in the Woodstock Independent, the dominant health care provider in McHenry County after Centegra filed suit to stop a state-approved 13-bed Mercy hospital in Crystal Lake.

Centegra’s new Huntley Hospital, which is losing money for lack of adequate patients.

Concurrently, Centegra was announcing a $20 million deficit resulting from not having enough patients in its new Huntley Hospital and the closing of its Woodstock in-patient care.

Ironically, both Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital and Sherman Hospital (before Advocate bailed it out through absorption) argued before state authorities that the Huntley hospital should not be given permission for construction because there would not be enough patients for all three hospitals.

That was after the successful opposition by Centegra and Advocate to a big Mercy hospital in Crystal Lake, which was led locally by Crystal Lake Mayor Aaron Shepley, a Centegra executive.

Ending Woodstock in-patient care, plus Centegra and Advocate Health Care Systems’ opposition to Mercy’s seeking approval to build the small facility at the same location at the intersection of Three Oaks Road and Route 31 across from the Holiday Inn led to the Woodstock Independent’s story on Mercy Vice Presidents’ criticism of Centegra.

Residents from the northwestern part of McHenry County have express disappointment Centegra is abandoning them and forcing them to go to Rockford, McHenry or Huntley for hospital care.

Mercy has a small hospital in Harvard, which has closed its obstetrics department.  That hospital used to be a property tax-supported facility.