Buyer needs another week to forge deal for Illinois hospital

The would-be buyer for St. Francis Hospital & Health Center in Blue Island, IL, needs another week before it can announce an agreement to takeover the hospital's assets. St. Francis parent SSM Health Care said that it signed a "tentative agreement" with MSMC Investors LLC, a buyer working with a start-up hospital company known as Transition Healthcare Co. But in a memo sent to hospital employees and board members, SSM said the delay in announcing a more definitive agreement is not cause for worry.