OAK PARK, Ill. — As the story unfolds regarding the shutdown of West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, the future appears grim for healthcare institutions catering to the most economically disadvantaged patients. This sentiment is echoed by CEOs of safety-net facilities speaking to the I-Team.
While the closure of West Suburban was not entirely unexpected, its suddenness has taken many in the Chicago healthcare community, including Stephanie Willding of CommunityHealth, by surprise. Willding leads a volunteer-driven clinic dedicated to serving those without insurance.
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“The closure wasn’t shocking, but the rapidity and manner in which it happened were indeed surprising,” remarked Willding. “Many safety-net entities, whether hospitals or federally qualified health centers, are grappling with financial difficulty. They face decisions about scaling back or closing services to remain operational and continue supporting their communities.”
These providers are in a precarious position, even if they manage to break even financially. They primarily serve some of the city’s lowest-income residents, including Medicaid recipients and the uninsured, often dealing with complex health issues. Willding emphasized that this is an inherently unsustainable business model.
“Safety-net hospitals and federally qualified health centers are operating at a loss with each patient visit,” Willding explained.
Looking ahead, Willding anticipates even greater challenges once new Medicaid work requirements are implemented next year.
“Hundreds of thousands of people losing their insurance, like, I’m seeing so much of my life’s work go backwards. We can anticipate that the challenges are actually just beginning,” she explained.
As health care providers in Illinois are reacting to the surprise shuttering — there are more details about the financial chaos at West Suburban Medical Center.
Payment and care issues were prevalent well before it closed its doors.
A letter sent in January from Illinois Emergency Medicine Specialists and obtained by the I-Team is formal notice of contract breach, sent to Resilience Healthcare CEO Manoj Prasad, the owner of West Suburban.
IEMS contracts emergency medicine doctors to hospitals, including West Suburban.
READ MORE | Pastors, community leaders call for West Suburban hospital to reopen under new leadership
The letter stated Resilience Healthcare owed doctors more than $900,000, claiming, “Despite more than five prior written notices of breach, multiple extensions of time, and repeated opportunities to cure, the Hospitals have failed to remedy their payment defaults…”
Humboldt Park Health CEO Jose Sanchez, who runs an anchor safety-net hospital in the community, told the I-Team the blame for any privately owned company’s closure lies at the feet of the owner.
“If you decide that you’re going to be you are a capital investor, and you purchase a hospital, and then, yeah, you responsible to take care of everybody, regardless of their ability to pay. OK, you don’t have any choice. It’s not the government’s responsibility to assist you to keep that business going,” said Sanchez.
CommunityHealth had just started a mammography partnership with West Suburban for clients in the Oak Park area and said they had to end that partnership without warning. Willding said if West Suburban does reopen, it will have to work to regain the trust of the communities it serves.
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