“Northwestern Medicine may have found the one hospital market where investment in long-term care hasn’t paid off: affluent north suburban Lake Forest.
“Northwestern-owned Lake Forest Hospital recently applied to permanently shutter its long-term care unit, Westmoreland Nursing Center, citing increased operating costs, failure to adequately fill 84 beds and flood damage from mid-July.
“In its application to the Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board, which decides on health care projects to prevent duplicating services, Lake Forest Hospital noted that it originally planned to close the long-term care facility by the end of the year, but that heavy rain damaged the nursing home and forced early transfer of patients. The board received the hospital’s application to discontinue 660 N. Westmoreland Road on July 28.
“Although the number of people age 65 and up has swelled in recent years to the fastest growing population in the U.S. … “
