Riverside Healthcare readies for more

KANKAKEE – As the lone Illinois hospital to be named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals, Riverside Healthcare president and CEO Phil Kambic knows there are lofty expectations that come with such distinction.

And the scope of those expectations have become even more intensified before Kambic had even placed the award in its prominent place within the Kankakee-headquartered hospital.

With the recent decision from Prime Healthcare, the new ownership group at St. Mary’s Hospital, only about a mile or so southeast of Riverside’s sprawling campus, Riverside’s ability to meet the demands placed upon them is more critical now than ever.

Kambic, his administrative team and the approximate 3,000-member workforce aren’t about to flinch when it comes to satisfying the community’s needs.

In fact, it appears Kambic welcomes this unexpected challenge. All of this happens oddly enough as National Hospital Week concludes May 17.

Since the planned Prime acquisition of Presence St. Mary’s Hospital became formalized in March, the system dropped an unexpected decision.

After generations of providing labor and delivery services at the West Court Street hospital, Prime announced it would exit that service.

At the conclusion of this Friday, the task of providing these services now falls squarely on Riverside, unless an expectant mother would rather travel outside of the Kankakee County region.

“We talk about those ‘what if’ scenarios,” Kambic said.

Not one, but two “what if” scenarios have now come to pass. With St. Mary’s having previously announced it was exiting the labor and delivery sector of health care here, it was learned Friday the hospital’s Level II trauma designation had also been suspended by the state’s Department of Public Health.

This situation largely stemmed from the loss of an OB doctor being connected to the hospital.

Under Prime’s ownership, St. Mary’s Hospital, which maintains a not-for-profit status, is going through something of a transformation.

“They have a different business model,” Kambic said.

He said he is not passing any type of judgment.

“I’m not saying it’s good or bad or better or worse” than Riverside’s, he said. But, it is his charge, along with the Riverside board, staff and administration to make Kankakee County and surrounding areas a better place to live.

“They [Prime] have a very different model than the community is used to. We will see if that model works in this community,” he said.

Kambic was among those not surprised when St. Mary’s announced its move regarding OB.

With Riverside delivering annually about 700 babies and St. Mary’s delivering another 250-300 yearly, he said Riverside can make the adjustment.

‘We will be fine’

He said the hospital has already picked up some St. Mary’s staff.

“We will be fine. The community will be fine. We have plans. We will be here for the community,” he said.

He is hopeful many people stay in Kankakee for their birthing needs, as some have already talked of traveling outside the region for this service.

“We are always growing,” Kambic said. “We will adjust. We will continue to invest in technology and in people.”

While grateful to have been recognized as the only Illinois hospital to receive the 100 Top Hospitals, as recently announced by the independent quality analysis provided by Premier Inc., Kambic said health care is not awards.

But being honored, he said, is humbling. In all, there are 210 hospitals in Illinois. Being the only hospital announced for this annual award is gratifying, he said.

This latest award marks the 11th time Riverside has received the designation, but the first since 2019. This year also marks the first time Riverside has been the lone Illinois hospital to receive the honor.

“It never gets old,” he said.

The primary purpose of Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals program is to inspire hospital and health system leaders to pursue higher performance and deliver added value to patients and communities.

Participation in the study is not application-based, and award winners do not pay to market their honor.

This year’s analysis compared the study’s top-performing hospitals to a peer group of similar hospitals and found that Premier’s 100 Top Hospitals delivered better outcomes while operating more efficiently. Compared to their peers, this year’s top performers achieved:

• 39% fewer inpatient deaths than peer hospitals
• 26.5% fewer patients with complications
• 32% fewer healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)
• 18% lower inpatient expense per discharge
• 0.4-day shorter average length of stay
• A better patient experience at top-performing hospitals compared to the remaining peer hospitals, with a top-box Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems score of 73% versus 68% at peer hospitals

According to the study’s analysis, if all hospitals operated at the level of this year’s top performers, more than 331,000 additional lives could have been saved, over 611,000 additional patients could have been complication-free and more than $15.1 billion in inpatient costs could have been saved for the 2025 study year.