Oak Park, Ill.-based West Suburban Medical Center is facing an uncertain future after its sister hospital, Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, closed Aug. 8 prior to CMS’ termination of its Medicare program Aug. 9, NBC 5 Chicago reported.
El Segundo, Calif.-based Pipeline Health System sold West Suburban and Weiss Memorial to Princeton, N.J.-based Resilience Healthcare in late 2022.
On July 24, CMS said in a public notice that Medicare would end Weiss Memorial’s reimbursement for inpatient care delivered to admitted patients due to its being out of compliance with federal standards regarding emergency services, nursing services and physician environment.
The 239-bed acute care hospital also evacuated its inpatient unit in mid-June and transferred patients to West Suburban due to a failed air-conditioning system.
Manoj Prasad, MD, PhD, CEO of Resilience Healthcare, said during an Aug. 8 press conference that while “the crisis is real[,] … there was nothing that endangered the life or health of anyone” regarding Weiss Memorial and its Illinois Department of Health inspections. He also plans to appeal CMS’ decision.
Dr. Prasad said the hospitals’ issues were being addressed through correction plans, but that a $10 million loan request from the state was recently rejected. Without financial assistance, Dr. Prasad said he was unsure of the hospitals’ futures and could not make assurances on employment status for hospital staff.
“I’ve been asking myself the same question,” he said, according to NBC 5 Chicago. “I asked that every day and that’s what every day, we look at the budget, look at what we can do and how we can make every dollar stretch,” he stated.
The Illinois Department of Health did not have an updated comment for Becker’s at this time.
Becker’s has also reached out to West Suburban Medical Center and will update this story should more information become available.
