OSF to combine Urbana, Danville locations into 1 hospital with 2 campuses

URBANA, Ill. (WAND) — OSF HealthCare announced the decision to combine OSF HealthCare Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana and OSF HealthCare Sacred Heart Medical Center in Danville on Thursday.

The health system said the decision was made "with great care" and will address gaps in service in east central Illinois.

JT Barnhart, President at OSF Heart of Mary Medical Center in Urbana said the restructuring is vital in order to provide necessary services to patients who need them. "The services that we're trying to shift to Danville are because of just a huge patient demand there in that community."

The locations will function as two campuses of one hospital. Emergency services and inpatient beds, along with diagnostic, lab, and other clinic offerings, will remain at the Urbana campus.

At the Urbana location, OSF is working on developing a geriatric psychology unit and a young adult mental health unit. "We get a huge preponderance of, behavioral health patients that come from the University of Illinois. And so we'll have some programs and one unit geared toward, patients from 18 to 26." Barnhart said.

"Since welcoming OSF Heart of Mary and OSF Sacred Heart into our Ministry in 2018, we have invested significant resources into the hospitals and their communities. However, ongoing financial losses, reduced use of inpatient beds, and the departure of key physicians have led us to reimagine how we can best serve the region. By aligning services across both campuses, we can eliminate duplication, address provider shortages, and embrace new, innovative models of care," read part of the release.

Staffing cuts are expected, but Barnhart said they do not have an estimate for how many positions will be eliminated. "Our desire is to keep as many mission partners within OSF as possible. So that is opportunities here at this [Urbana] facility; we think there will be about 250 mission partners that will be needed to run the behavioral health service, and ER, and the medical unit here."

The decision is pending approval from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, and would go into effect Jan. 1, 2026 if approved.