Last year I wrote about the dilemmas that West Suburban Medical Center faced. That has now worsened to the point of closing.
As much as we may want to blame the present owners for that result, he is just the most recent in a long line of owners who could not make the hospital function well financially. Some of those issues are in control of the management (who can really believe it took them months to identify a billing problem?).
The health-care organizations I worked for (one of which had previously owned West Sub) would have noticed that problem immediately at a month-end close. Some issues were out of their control: migration of “insured” patients to Loyola, Northwestern and Rush, poor reimbursement for Medicaid, and no reimbursements for the uninsured, a demoralized medical and nursing staff, and a facility that looks like it is straight out of a 1950s TV show.
Remember, West Sub has been independent, owned by Loyola, owned by Resurrection, owned by Vanguard, owned by Pipeline, and now owned by Resilience (what an ironic name). None of these were able to make West Sub a going concern; each sold to the subsequent owner.
So what we really need to do is to question the need for a bricks-and-mortar hospital in a town that boasts another excellent hospital at the west end, and is within 5 miles of three others (MacNeal, Loyola, and Gottlieb). What is needed is a master plan for health-care delivery for Oak Park/Austin/Near West Side of Chicago. Much like Blue Cross and Rush have been investing in community health-care resources, so should they. They should create an ambulatory campus with preventive, primary and specialty services and diagnostics, in conjunction with Cook County, Loyola and Rush, and stop trying to be another traditional hospital facility.
Gary Wainer
Oak Park