OAK PARK, Ill. — Late Tuesday afternoon, the ABC7 I-Team uncovered that just a month before a sudden shutdown, a critical audit was conducted at an Oak Park safety net hospital, revealing troubling findings.
West Suburban Medical Center, a private hospital that provided essential services to tens of thousands annually and employed over 700 staff members, unexpectedly closed its doors on March 25.
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More than a month prior to this closure, an audit commissioned by the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services (HFS) exposed significant management failures at the facility.
The I-Team, through a Freedom of Information Act request, obtained a report detailing that auditors had visited the hospital and discovered it was financially insolvent.
The audit revealed that the hospital’s management had not implemented a new electronic medical records system and lacked any financial reserves. The facility faced operational costs of $10 million monthly, compounded by substantial debts.
Previously, the I-Team reported that the state had injected at least $30 million into West Suburban through loans. However, according to an HFS spokesperson, the hospital has made no repayments on these loans or on more than $100 million in outstanding tax debt.
The audit also noted “significant leadership gaps” and no “documented, realistic data-driven strategy to stabilize operations or rebuild service lines.”
“Finance team lacks basic cost accounting, budgeting, and revenue cycle capability,” the auditors noted.
Auditors working for the state also noted, “Leadership is unstable and overstretched, with the CEO filling multiple roles and newly hired leaders lacking experience in hospital administration.”
“Decision-making is solely with the CEO [Manoj Prasad], undermining the development of a competent, strong leadership team able to plan and implement necessary financial improvement plans,” the report states. “There is a board, but the depth of oversight is unclear.”
One slide of the presentation lists the heading, “Strategy (Lack of)”: Auditors finding there was no data-driven strategy to stabilize operations with no financial modeling, staffing plans or validated assumptions.
“There are proposed new but unvetted initiatives,” auditors noted. “Unclear if and how can be successful. Actions are determined day to day.”
Auditors ended the report by recommending the state request tax returns to learn more about how federal and state funds were distributed.
“Absent having audited financial statements to evaluate historical performance, and evaluate the reasonableness of 2026 budget assumptions, requesting tax returns is a sound alternative information sources,” auditors noted.
It’s unclear whether state officials requested copies of the facility’s tax returns.
To read the state’s full audit of West Suburban Medical Center, click here.
Resilience Healthcare CEO Manoj Prasad tells the I-Team West Suburban welcomed this review and cooperated with the on-site visit.
“The report confirms what we have said which is that the failed EMR system caused revenue collection issues,” Prasad said through a spokesperson. “The hospital has since resumed outpatient services and is working toward a full reopening in July.”
Through a spokesperson, the property owner and part-operations owner of Resilience Healthcare, Reddy Rathnakar Patlola, told the I-Team, “The State’s findings reinforce what we’ve been saying-there is no realistic path for the current operator to safely reopen West Suburban Medical Center.”
Patlola has attempted to evict Prasad over unpaid rent, which in turn led to Prasad filing a lawsuit over preserving the hospital’s current management, as the I-Team previously reported.
Through a spokesperson, Patlola said, “Our focus is on securing a qualified new operator who can quickly restore care and ensure long-term stability for the community.”
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