State scales back plan to close mental health beds at Choate, will keep 25 of 75 in Anna

The Illinois Department of Human Services will keep 25 inpatient psychiatric beds open at the Choate Mental Health and Developmental Center in Anna, scaling back a plan to close all 75 of the facility’s mental health beds.^{1, 2, 3}

In an Oct. 16 letter to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board, the department’s lawyer said IDHS and Choate had decided to reduce the beds in service from 75 to 25 and asked to withdraw the certificate of need application the department had filed to close the unit.^{1, 2} Because of the smaller reduction, the applicants understand that a permit is no longer required under the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Act, the letter said.¹ Choate will continue to provide acute mental illness services with the remaining beds.¹

The other 50 beds are to be phased out by July 2027, Capitol News Illinois reported in a story produced with the Daily Egyptian.²

Jobs and beds elsewhere

Choate is still expected to lose around 250 positions, according to the report.² IDHS says the state is bringing 410 human services jobs to psychiatric hospitals and centers in the southern half of the state, including 87 at Choate, and that it will offer new jobs to all qualifying employees who are affected.² The department listed 104 new jobs at Chester Mental Health Center, 113 at Murray Developmental Center and 106 at Alton Mental Health Center.²

The department also plans to add about 200 beds at three other state-run psychiatric hospitals: 100 in Alton, 56 in Chester and 44 at Madden Mental Health Center in Hines, Capitol News Illinois reported.²

Choate’s 40-bed forensic program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, who are typically placed there by a court, will stay open.² Its general program for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, which serves 11 people, is still set to close, with residents moving to community-based, family or other state-operated settings, an IDHS spokesperson told the Daily Egyptian.² Choate houses 52 patients in all.²

What the department says

IDHS said it is keeping the 25 beds “due to the current regional needs as well as unforeseen infrastructure needs related to the build out of additional system beds.”² “The decision was not based on going before the Health Facilities & Services Review Board,” the agency said.²

The department has said the restructuring is better for patients and pointed to support from the advocacy groups Arc of Illinois, Access Living and Equip for Equality.² Gov. JB Pritzker has defended downsizing Choate, citing longstanding problems at the facility and greater mental health needs elsewhere in the state.² A 2023 investigation by ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois documented abuse and cover-ups by staff there.²

What the senators say

Republican state Sens. Terri Bryant of Murphysboro and Paul Jacobs of Pomona said in a joint statement that they appreciated the decision but that keeping 25 of the 75 beds “is still wholly inadequate and falls far short of meeting the mental health needs of southern Illinois.”^{2, 3} “SIU Medicine’s own study recommended expanding psychiatric services at Choate, not cutting them,” they said.³

Bryant told the Daily Egyptian she believes the department changed course to strengthen its position in lawsuits over the downsizing, a view Jacobs shared, according to the report.² IDHS denied that, saying it had already made its submission to the review board before it modified the plan.²

The lawsuits

Two lawsuits challenging the downsizing are pending.² One was filed in September by AFSCME Council 31, the union representing most Choate workers, along with Union County State’s Attorney Tyler Tripp and the president of AFSCME Local 141; it names Pritzker, the state, IDHS and IDHS Secretary Dulce Quintero.² It alleges violations of three state laws, including the Health Facilities Planning Act.²

The other, filed by Tripp with Union County Sheriff David Wilkins and the guardian of a Choate resident, argues in part that defendants awaiting forensic placement already wait weeks in county jails and that downsizing Choate would make those backlogs worse.² That case was moved to federal court and then sent back to Union County Circuit Court under an order signed Sept. 29, according to court documents cited by Capitol News Illinois.²