As State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, and state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Gurnee, work feverishly to ensure Waukegan continues to have a hospital, Vista Medical Center East officials are struggling to deal with ongoing financial issues.
On numerous occasions, Johnson has said Waukegan must have a hospital, whether it is Vista operating under its current ownership — American Healthcare Systems (AHS) — or another entity. It needs to provide the care the community needs, she has said.
“It is our goal to ensure that we have a hospital in Waukegan that provides quality care on par with the surrounding hospitals,” she said. “To realize this goal, it is imperative that the state work toward providing adequate funding to safety-net hospitals.”
Johnson, Mayfield and Vista officials provided some answers and gave area residents an update on the hospital’s status at a town hall Friday at the Patricia Jones Center in Waukegan at a time when the hospital lost its Level II Trauma Center designation for the second time in 31 months.
A standing-room-only crowd of more than 120 people attended the meeting, asking a variety of questions of Johnson, Mayfield and AHS officials.
As she was starting her remarks opening the meeting, Johnson said she learned from the Illinois Department of Public Health that it removed Vista’s status as a Level II trauma center. Until the designation is restored, ambulances cannot bring patients to the hospital for emergency care.
“As of today, they have lifted the Trauma II because there is not sufficient anesthesia or neurology support,” Johnson said. “Vista has the opportunity to work with the agency to get it reinstated. The hospital remains open. There is not any notification of closure.”
Ann Lawrence, AHS’s chief legal officer, said after the meeting the hospital voluntarily yielded the Trauma II status as a cost-cutting measure. There are eight physician groups who work as independent contractors to provide anesthetic services.
Lawrence said that by reducing the amount of time anesthesiology teams are at the hospital, the financial savings are significant. Surgery services will continue at Vista, but they will not be done 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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“We’re reducing the time those services are provided,” Lawrence said. “We are continuing with scheduled surgeries. The way we were doing it, millions of dollars were lost.”
With the loss of the trauma center designation, Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said in an email Sunday that the city’s fire department will do what it takes to make sure emergency care is provided. Additional ambulances will be available, and shifts will be sufficiently staffed.
While Cunningham said fire department shifts will be staffed “as necessary to ensure every person receives the care they need,” he added that AHS’s management of the hospital is unacceptable.
“I am deeply disappointed by the continued negligence of American Healthcare System at Vista Medical Center East and the impact this has on the region,” Cunningham said. ’It is unacceptable that our community is facing these disruptions in critical care.”
While Vista is not designated a safety net hospital by the state, Johnson said “for all intents and purposes” it is one. Like one, Vista “provides comprehensive healthcare to individuals regardless of their financial status, insurance coverage, or ability to pay.”
“These hospitals serve as critical medical anchors for low-income, uninsured, and highly vulnerable populations,” Johnson said. “Vista meets these requirements,” she added, referring to the percentage of Medicaid or charity cases a hospital handles. “They just have to ensure data integrity when submitting their application to the state agency for consideration.”
Since Vista and safety-net hospitals throughout the state currently owe the state for unpaid taxes under Illinois law relating to money received through Medicaid, Johnson said in an email after the meeting that the state is recouping the money as it has a right to do under state law instead of sending it to the hospitals.
“The impact is that unpaid assessments disrupt the cash flow required to finance state-directed Medicaid payments, creating acute financial pressure on already struggling safety-net hospitals that rely on these reimbursements to stay afloat,” Johnson said in the email.
When the state legislature meets in its veto session in November, Johnson said she and Mayfield plan to introduce and push for passage of legislation that will allow a 10-year extension on the taxes to help them develop a more stable financial footing and another bill to allow more freestanding emergency centers.
“(It spreads) payment over a longer period of time to assist with stabilizing these hospitals,” Johnson said. “It would ensure that if there are hospital closures in underserved areas, there is a solution to addressing emergency care,” she added, referring to the emergency centers.
Mayfield said she and Johnson have worked with “viable” investors who expressed a desire to purchase Vista. Though two of those investors broke off the negotiations, another one remains. Vista has put qualifications on the deal.
“Unfortunately, both deals were thwarted based on negative press and the politicalization of the issue with Vista,” Mayfield said, referring to the initial deals. “The potential investors pulled out of the process.”
Evelina Sarian, the chief operating officer for AHS, said at the meeting there is a potential buyer for the hospital who will make it a not-for-profit operation. Lake County’s other general hospitals are not-for-profit institutions. AHS will walk away from the deal with no money.
Lawrence said that while AHS does not want a payment for the hospital, the entity must assume all existing debts and prove it has the financial ability to operate the hospital. She did not rule out a reorganization under Chapter 11 of the United States bankruptcy laws.
“I’ll consider all options,” she said.