The Chicago Area Has Lost Two Safety-Net Hospitals in Less Than a Year. A judge ruled that West Suburban Medical Center may reopen under the same owner, but furloughed employees, community members have doubts
In case you missed it, Cook County Judge Patrick Stanton ruled on June 1 that West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park may reopen under the same owner, Manoj Prasad, CEO of Resilience Healthcare. The safety-net hospital closed in March after failing to pay employees. Its sister hospital, Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, closed this past summer after 72 years in operation. Prasad also served as CEO of Weiss.
Prasad’s business partner, Rathnaker Reddy Patlola, sought a court-ordered receivership for West Suburban that would have brought in new management to reopen the hospital. Patlola alleged that Prasad misappropriated a $10 million state loan, as well as an additional $25 million.
After a third-party review of the hospital’s financial records, Stanton said investigators found no evidence that Prasad had misappropriated the funds. In his June 1 ruling, Stanton said he met with attorneys for Prasad and Patlola on Friday evening. He said they had developed a plan to reopen the hospital but did not disclose any details.
Furloughed employees, community members, and former Weiss employees expressed disappointment with the decision.
A former Weiss employee who worked at the administrative level, says, “I’m really concerned because they seem to be focusing just on West Suburban and not on what has taken place at Weiss.” The administrator says the fact that Weiss still hasn’t reopened, despite Prasad’s claims that it would, makes him doubt that West Suburban will reopen.
He says he’s left with one major question: “Where’s the money? You think you’re going to open West Suburban again, but you’ve lost all trust. It’s the community that’s suffering.”
Weiss Memorial and West Suburban are two of Illinois’ 32 safety-net hospitals. These facilities serve patients with private insurance, Medicare, Medicaid, and no insurance.
To understand the critical role that safety-net hospitals play, spend a day at Mount Sinai Hospital, the state’s largest private safety-net hospital, which treats approximately 150,000 patients a year.
