Howard Brown Health to close Diversey and Thresholds South clinics in Chicago

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Howard Brown Health will shutter two of its Chicago clinics this fall to offset an expected $6.6 million budget shortfall.

The care provider for low-income, LGBTQ+ and HIV-positive patients will close its Diversey clinic, 2800 N. Sheridan Road, on Aug. 31, and its Thresholds South clinic, 734 W. 47th St., on Sept. 30.

In a news release, Howard Brown said it will reassign patients to the nearest of its eight remaining Chicago locations and will reassign the "vast majority" of its affected employees. The company said it "does not anticipate a reduction in force as a result of these clinic closures."

Robin Gay, interim CEO of Howard Brown, said the closures are needed to maintain "financial sustainability." In the news release, the company pinned its decision on a deficit caused by a "changing funding landscape," as well as a departure of the sole providers from each clinic and ending lease agreements.

“These closures mark a business decision that will ensure our ability to serve patients with quality care for the next 50 years,” Gay said in the news release.

The Illinois Nurses Association, which represents unionized workers at Howard Brown, said it was "dismayed" by the company's announcement because it had just negotiated a contract in May that requires bargaining over changes that would include the closure of clinics.

"We are especially concerned because Howard Brown Health's statement also made no guarantee that there would be no layoffs as a result of this consolidation," Tristan Bock-Hughes, senior lead organizer at the Illinois Nurses Association, said in an emailed statement. "We have demanded to bargain, and we hope Howard Brown chooses to engage in the process we just mutually agreed to."

Union employees were also surprised by the announcement because they said company leadership had told them in January that they planned to add staff at the Thresholds clinic, which serves people experiencing severe mental illness and homelessness.

"This change in plans will have a major negative impact on the psychiatric patients who benefit greatly from the integration with the Thresholds social services sharing the same building," Tiffany Foster-Mitchell, lead medical assistant at the clinic, said in the union's statement.

Financial troubles have rocked Howard Brown over the last couple of years.

The company cited an expected budget shortfall of $12 million in December 2022 when it laid off dozens of employees. At the time, Howard Brown attributed its financial struggles to changes in pharmaceutical legislation and the end of COVID-19 federal assistance programs.

The layoffs were followed by two employee strikes in January and November 2023.

Earlier this month, Howard Brown's union employees ratified their first contract after more than 17 months of negotiations, agreeing to an average 7% raise over three years.

In March, the National Labor Relations Board filed a complaint against Howard Brown, saying it had bargained in bad faith with the union. The company later reinstated 24 of the laid-off employees and more than 30 others were ordered to receive back pay.