Sauget, Ill.-based SIHF Healthcare received approval from Illinois regulators to build a $231 million hospital in Cahokia Heights that will replace Touchette Regional Hospital, the Belleville News-Democrat reported July 21.
Construction on the 108-bed hospital is expected to begin in March 2027, according to the report. SIHF secured $208 million in state grants toward the project, including $193 million tied to a state health transformation grant and $15 million earmarked for an adolescent behavioral health wing and will cover the remaining $23 million itself.
The new campus will nearly triple Touchette’s psychiatric bed count, from 38 to 96, split among 24 adolescent beds, 24 senior beds and 48 adult beds, according to the report. Touchette President Brad Goacher said the region currently lacks inpatient youth psychiatric beds, forcing local ambulances to transport children as far as Springfield, Champaign or Chicago for care.
Officials are exploring future use options for the current hospital building, which is more than 65 years old, according to the report.
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