Blue Island, IL, hospital to get second chance, new name

St. Francis Hospital & Health Center in Blue Island, IL, will become MetroSouth Medical Center after a "transfer of ownership" to a for-profit entity known as MSMC Investors and its affiliate, Transition Healthcare Co. The Catholic-owned, nonprofit St. Francis was threatened with closing after nearly 30 hospital operators and investment firms said they could not take on the hospital's myriad problems such as an increase in uninsured patients. A financial backer said the new deal calls for investing $30 million in new hospital equipment and facilities.