Hospital Sisters Health System: Contact & Patient Info

Illinois HSHS hospitals

Wisconsin HSHS hospitals

Service-specific HSHS scheduling numbers

HSHS physician care is provided through HSHS Medical Group, Prairie Cardiovascular, Prevea Health partnerships, academic-affiliated physicians and other credentialed medical staff. A provider can also practice at more than one clinic or HSHS hospital.

Examples from current HSHS provider listings

What to ask when you want a particular doctor

• Is this physician accepting new patients?
• Which HSHS location does the doctor see patients at?
• What is the next available new-patient appointment?
• Does this doctor offer online booking?
• Is a referral required?
• Does my exact insurance plan participate with both the facility and physician?
• Is this visit billed as a hospital outpatient visit or physician-office visit?
• Will a separate facility fee apply?

Are HSHS emergency departments open 24 hours?

Major HSHS acute-care hospitals provide around-the-clock emergency capability, but emergency-department operating details should always be checked at the specific hospital. HSHS explicitly states, for example, that Good Shepherd Hospital provides emergency care 24/7 and that St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center in Green Bay provides 24/7 emergency care.

HSHS St. Clare Memorial Hospital also provides emergency telemedicine access to specialists in Green Bay 24 hours a day when needed.

HSHS ER fee: is there one fixed emergency charge?

No. HSHS does not publish one universal “emergency fee” that represents every ER visit. An emergency bill can vary according to the hospital, level of emergency service, tests, imaging, medications, procedures, physician services, insurance contract, deductible and coinsurance.

HSHS therefore provides hospital-specific standard-charge files and patient estimation tools rather than claiming one ER price.

Emergency room or urgent care?

Example: St. Elizabeth’s Convenient Care

HSHS St. Elizabeth’s operates an off-campus hospital outpatient convenient-care department at 1512 N Green Mount Rd, O’Fallon, IL. Current published hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily, phone 618-624-3750. Walk-ins are welcome.

HSHS warns that this location is a hospital outpatient department, so insurance coverage and billing may differ from a normal physician office; patients can receive a hospital bill and provider bill.

Why there is no single HSHS doctor fee

A primary-care appointment, specialty consultation, hospital outpatient visit, emergency evaluation, imaging study and surgical procedure are billed differently. The amount a patient owes can also depend on whether there is a separate hospital facility charge.

HSHS says patient cost can be affected by:

• personal insurance coverage;
• the physician or provider;
• the care provided and its complexity;
• the hospital location;
• and, for inpatient care, length of stay.

One HSHS service with a published cash price

Hospital price-transparency files

HSHS publishes machine-readable standard-charge files for its individual hospitals, including Good Shepherd, Holy Family, St. Anthony’s, St. Elizabeth’s, St. Francis, St. John’s, both St. Joseph’s hospitals, St. Mary’s Decatur, St. Clare, St. Mary’s Green Bay, St. Nicholas and St. Vincent.

Those files are useful for price-transparency research, but they should not be confused with a personalized insurance estimate. Gross charges do not necessarily equal what an insured patient pays.

How to get a realistic HSHS cost estimate

MyHSHS can be accessed online or through the MyChart mobile app. HSHS currently lists the following patient functions:

For records visible in MyHSHS

Sign in to MyHSHS first. Test results, clinical summaries, medications, vaccinations and other electronic information may already be available without a separate records request.

For a complete medical-record request

Contact the Health Information Management / Medical Records department at the hospital where the care occurred. HSHS’s own authorization materials state that patients who want a complete record should contact HSHS rather than assuming everything is available through MyChart.

Proxy access

HSHS provides proxy authorization for eligible family-member access. Different rules apply to children, adolescents and adults because medical-record privacy rights vary by age.

Ways HSHS accepts payment

• Cash
• Check
• Money order
• Debit card
• Visa
• Mastercard
• Discover
• American Express

Ways to pay an HSHS bill

HSHS hospital bill mailing addresses

HSHS says its Financial Assistance Program may assist people who:

• do not have insurance;
• are underinsured;
• do not qualify for government programs;
• or cannot afford their patient responsibility for emergency or other medically necessary care.

HSHS provides financial-assistance applications in English and Spanish and publishes its Financial Assistance Policy, plain-language summary, required-documentation list, billing-and-collection policy and provider participation information.

Patients should apply rather than assume they do not qualify. HSHS specifically says all patients are welcome to submit an application for review under the program’s criteria.

HSHS hospitals participate with many commercial insurance, Medicare and Medicaid plans, but participation varies by state, hospital, physician group and exact insurance product.

Before a scheduled HSHS procedure

1. Call the member-services number on your insurance card.
2. Give the insurer the exact HSHS facility name.
3. Give the physician’s name.
4. Ask whether prior authorization is required.
5. Ask about your remaining deductible.
6. Ask about copay and coinsurance.
7. Ask whether anesthesia, radiology or pathology may be separately billed.
8. Request an HSHS patient estimate.

A common current pattern at several Illinois HSHS hospitals is 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. general visiting hours, but this should not be treated as a universal HSHS rule.

St. John’s specialty visitor examples

• General visiting: 8 a.m.–8 p.m.
• Children’s Hospital: 8 a.m.–8 p.m.
• Labor & Delivery: no more than three visitors at bedside at one time.
• Pediatric/PICU: special secured-unit rules apply.
• NICU: parents/guardians and designated care partners are subject to unit-specific rules.
• ICU/CVICU: generally two visitors at a time.

Useful verified example: HSHS St. Elizabeth’s Hospital

St. Elizabeth’s is located at 1 St. Elizabeth’s Boulevard, O’Fallon, IL 62269, just off Green Mount Road near Interstate 64 Exit 14.

• Public parking is available around the hospital campus.
• Free valet parking is currently listed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Friday.
• Valet service is available at the Outpatient Services and Health Center entrances.
• The hospital publishes a campus parking map and entrance guide.

Useful verified example: St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center, Green Bay

HSHS tells visitors entering St. Mary’s Hospital Medical Center after 8 p.m. to use the Emergency Department entrance on the east side of the building on Webster Avenue.

Before driving to an HSHS campus

Use eCheck-In before arrival when offered

HSHS supports online eCheck-In for appointments, procedures and deliveries. Completing eligible pre-registration tasks before leaving home can reduce paperwork at arrival.

HSHS provider and facility listings identify accessibility and interpreter resources at participating locations. Some facility profiles specifically list both foreign-language interpreters and American Sign Language interpreter services.

If language, hearing, vision or mobility assistance is needed, tell the scheduling office before the appointment so the hospital can explain what assistance is available at the exact location.

For health-care professionals in Illinois, HSHS operates Illinois Connect, a 24/7 transfer, admission and consultation resource.