Last week, in his first interview since taking on ownership of West Suburban Medical Center through the newly minted Resilience Healthcare, Manoj Prasad was both frank and hopeful about the future of this vital institution.
In an hour’s conversation with Wednesday Journal’s Stacey Sheridan, he acknowledged that the future of West Sub and its sister hospital, Weiss Memorial in the city, was at risk, absent the purchase he negotiated with the now-bankrupt previous owner, Pipeline Health. He said his newly formed health-care company paid $92 million for the two hospitals and has taken on more than $80 million in debt as well.
The Resilience purchase makes the sixth ownership change at West Sub in two decades. There is a price for such instability, especially in an era of such constant upheaval in the nation’s health care.
This, though, is a new model. Prasad has moved his family from Michigan to River Forest. He is effectively the CEO of West Sub and spends his days at either West Sub or Weiss. He says he is actively engaged with staff members at both hospitals. Also, that he is working to unify some operations between the two institutions, something not done previously.
“These two hospitals, they will flourish,” he told the Journal.
As a safety-net hospital serving the West Side and Oak Park and River Forest, there is not a more important bet on our shared future than to work for the success of West Sub.
