Deaconess Illinois plans to restore OB services in rural south
Will Davis, president of Deaconess Illinois, said the system will go before the Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board in the coming months to pursue reinstatement of obstetrics services in Southern Illinois, a region he called a "60% OB desert." Of Illinois' 44 planning areas, three have zero OB beds and two overlap with his region; the state health department told Davis it has limited precedent for a reinstatement of this kind. The system is building a coalition with local FQHCs, OB-GYN groups and a local university to create what Davis called the largest such network in Southern Illinois. Since 2020, 16 Illinois hospitals have discontinued obstetric services, and the initiative follows Deaconess Illinois' 2024 rebrand after joining the nonprofit Deaconess Health System in 2023.