West Suburban, Weiss hospitals suspending services due to billing problems: Resilience Health CEO
OAK PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and Weiss Hospital in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood are suspending all patient care services due to what the CEO says are problems with the billing system.
In a statement, Dr. Manoj Prasad, the CEO of Resilience Health, says the hospitals have not been charging patients properly, and have been running on just a small portion of the normal revenue.
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The CEO says operations are being suspended until that is fixed. Employees will be paid on time.
Staff members say they've been told their last day will be Friday.
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"From an operational standpoint, our immediate priorities are the continuity of care of Oak Park residents and affected patients, as well as the employment status for the many dedicated workers impacted by this suspension" Oak Park Village Manager Kevin J. Jackson said in a statement. "As longstanding Oak Park institution, West Suburban Medical Center has been certainly a lifeline for our residents and neighbors across the community. This interruption of services is not easy for anyone to navigate, and the Village will do what it can within its purview to minimize disruptions for those affected by the suspension."
ABC7 was told the emergency room at West Suburban Medical Center is longer accepting ambulances or walk-in patients, and administrators are assessing what to do with several dozen patients currently in the facility.
Some employees were seen leaving with boxes in hand Wednesday following a day of stress and uncertainty.
"don't know what I'm going to do. I got to figure out where, how I'm going to eat next week," patient access representative Sanyaa Thomas said. "How am I going to pay my bills next week, put clothes on my back?"
Thomas is among hundreds of workers at the Oak Park hospital who learned starting Friday they'll be furloughed.
The job action also impacts the hospital's River Forest campus.
The furloughs come seven month after Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown, which is also owned by Resilience, was largely shuttered.
Weiss Hospital stopped in-patient and emergency care months ago when it was kicked off the Medicare program over conditions inside the hospital.
Some at West Suburban say they saw job cuts coming when mundane things, including trash collection, started to become an issue.
Multiple messages left by ABC7 for Resilience Health were not returned.
