Red Bud Regional Hospital has announced its intent to close the Monroe County Surgical Center at 501 Hamacher Street in Waterloo. 

Services at the 6,800-square-foot facility were suspended during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 and the center has remained non-operational since. 

The surgical center opened in December 2011 as a 100 percent physician-owned facility. In 2015, Red Bud Regional Hospital invested $2.2 million to acquire a majority stake in the center.

“Historically, Monroe County Surgical Center has had very low utilization, with its two operating rooms utilized at 10.3 percent capacity in 2019 and 22.9 percent capacity in 2018,” Monroe County Surgical Center Administrator Jen Babb wrote in an official filing with the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. “These low volumes, combined with the severe effects of the pandemic, rendered the facility no longer financially viable and resulted in our decision to apply for permanent discontinuation.”

Babb added in her filing that the center was not aware of any adverse impacts upon patient access during its recent suspension of services and does not anticipate any such impact from the permanent discontinuation of the service, “as other area facilities had sufficient capacity to accept patients.”