Will Aurora Sinai Medical Center close down?

MILWAUKEE -- Aurora Healthcare hasn't ruled out closing Sinai Medical Center, as Aurora deals with major financial shortfalls at the downtown location. If Aurora decides to close the medical center, it would leave a huge void in Milwaukee's central city.

Aurora Sinai Medical Center has lost $20 million, and is on track to lose another $30 million this year. A spokesman for Aurora says the hospital could end up cutting services, or as a last resort, close the entire facility. If the hospital on 12th and State is shut down, Wheaton's St. Joseph Hospital on 50th and Chambers would be the only safety net left for Milwaukee's central city residents.

Back in 2006, Wheaton closed St. Michael Hospital on 24th and Villard because it was on track to lose $26 million that year. St. Joseph began caring for a majority of the shuttered hospital's patients.

Aurora Sinai had about 7,200 inpatient admissions and about 49,000 visits to its emergency room in the first eleven months of last year.

The president of St. Joseph Hospital tells us her hospital wouldn't have room if it had to absorb even a fraction of those patients.

For more information, check out the Milwaukee Business Journal.