West Sub in financial crisis, says owner on same day Weiss is closed 

On the same day that Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown was closed by Resilience Healthcare, its owner Dr. Manoj Prasad attended a press conference at West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park where he was flanked by two West Side state representatives who said they would work to secure more state aid for the struggling safety net hospital. 

Prasad said the two hospitals had been in crisis for the past four months initially due to a difficult conversion in its billing system which left two-thirds of its potential revenue unbilled and then by severe issues with its air conditioning systems as summer heat arrived. That problem was called “catastrophic” at Weiss and led to severe overheating and the hospital’s inpatient rooms being closed several weeks ago. 

After the federal Center for Medicare Services took the rare step of terminating Weiss’ participation in Medicaid reimbursement as of Aug. 9, Weiss closed its emergency department on Aug. 8 effectively shuttering the hospital. 

Asked where this left West Sub, Prasad expressed his commitment to saving West Sub and gradually restoring and improving its services. However, when pressed by reporters on West Sub’s chance for survival without a cash infusion from the state, he said this is what he worries about every day. He described West Sub as a “small business” in crisis. He said the hospital watches “how much money comes in a on a day and then decides how to allocate” those funds. 

He said the hospital is operating hand-to-mouth and that he can’t predict how long current resources will allow West Sub to operate. 

Asked why he has been fully unresponsive to media questions over the past two months he said, “I have my hands full. This is a crisis.” Asked why the hospital no longer has a communications staff or public relations firm he said, “We can’t afford to pay for it.”   

State Rep. La Shawn Ford, (D-8^th) and State Rep. Camille Lilly (D-78^th) opened the press conference held in the empty former gift shop in West Sub’s lobby. Both talked about the critical role West Sub plays as a safety net hospital serving the West Side and Oak Park. “It is critical that West Sub is as strong as possible,” said Ford, who was recently endorsed by retiring Cong. Danny Davis for his 7^th District seat in the U.S. House. “The West Side is our priority. We want this hospital to continue.” 

Lilly said that “Black families are the most vulnerable in the city” and that access to health care in the neighborhood was a “moral and social responsibility.” 

Both elected officials said they would work within state government to seek additional funding for West Sub though they did not discuss specific ideas to accomplish that goal. 

No representatives of Oak Park’s village government were present at the press conference. 

West Suburban Hospital staff members hovered in the lobby and then were urged to step into the gift shop space to hear the press conference. 

Prasad talked at length about how Resilience Healthcare was formed to purchase both Weiss and West Sub out of bankruptcy from Pipeline Health, a for profit system, after Pipeline declared bankruptcy while blaming the two Chicago area facilities for dragging it down. Prasad said he initially walked away from the deal saying the two hospitals had posted losses of between $20 million and $50 million annually over several years. But at the 11th hour and with the state saying the two hospitals would be closed without a buyer, Prasad said he took a Hail Mary pass and purchased the pair of hospitals. 

In his estimation, Resilience was making headway at reducing the $81 million in debt it assumed with the purchase while making slow headway at fixing failed systems in the aging facilities. 

West Sub has had ongoing though lesser issues than Weiss with its AC this summer. 

Asked by a Growing Community Media reporter about a quote from a month ago that the entire HVAC system at West Sub had been replaced in 2024, Prasad claimed that was true. Asked why Oak Park’s village government has no record of permits being pulled for such a large project, Prasad said that was not a level of detail he was involved in and that the paper should ask the vendors involved. Asked for the names of the vendors he said that was not a level of detail he was involved in. 

While saying he was not being political, Prasad took a shot at the Trump administration saying that in his 30+ years in hospital management he had never seen the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services fully terminate reimbursements in such a short window of time. He said that Weiss will likely go through an 8-to-12-month process to try and regain its license to operate while making further repairs to the facility. 

Assessing the impact of West Sub’s woes on the community Prasad described Rush Oak Park Hospital as “as smaller hospital where our patients don’t feel very welcome.” 

Prasad said that by necessity West Sub and Weiss had operated under strict austerity measures. “It was the only way to survive,” he said. The result of the cost cutting and other changes was that “we upset a lot of people. And the best retaliation was to pick up the phone and call in a complaint” to regulatory bodies. 

Officials at both the Illinois Department of Public Health and building inspectors from Oak Park have responded to complaints coming in about West Sub. 

Responding to specific GCM reporting about the July 4^th weekend closing of the hospital’s maternity services unit, he said that no nurses were fired, that the unit was closed due to a shortage of nurses scheduled for that weekend. The nurses who were escorted out of the building by security that day dispute that version of events. 

Prasad said conversations are underway to reopen maternity services under “a different model.” He said that while maternity services most always lose money that it was an essential service a safety net hospital should offer. 

Prasad said the closure of Weiss might allow Resilience to transfer some nurses from the Uptown location to West Sub thereby easing a nursing shortage at the Oak Park hospital. 

In closing remarks, Ford and Lilly stressed that they were not simply standing in support of Prasad but of the full community. “We need transparency and accountability,” from the owner of West Sub, said Ford. Lilly said the reps have “asked for plans” from West Sub. “We are asking for and requiring” those plans, she said.