Health
Future Remains Uncertain for Two Chicago-Area Safety-Net Hospitals Under New Ownership
Residents in two Chicago-area communities are hoping to see their safety-net hospitals reopened under new leadership.
Insight Health Systems reached a deal last week to purchase both Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park after both shuttered following years of reported mismanagement and poor structural conditions.
Marc Kaplan, a leadership team member of Northside Action for Justice, said community members have been fighting to preserve Weiss for years, including efforts beginning in 2020 and 2021 after the hospital’s former owner moved to sell its parking lot for luxury development.
Community advocates pushing for the hospitals to be operational again, like Kaplan, see the acquisition as a step in the right direction but estimate the road ahead will be long.
“There’s really a bigger battle in terms of the funding of safety-net hospitals and about how the state pays for it,” Kaplan said. “We know that with the cuts in Medicare and Medicaid — which 80 to 90% of the patients in these hospitals, that’s how they pay — we’ll have some serious issues, but we’re looking forward to this partnership (with Insight).”
Illinois hospitals stand to lose $4 billion in revenue over the next several years due to changes in Medicaid and Medicare funding outlined in the Trump administration’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, according to KFF, an independent health policy research and polling organization. Those changes will also limit the state’s ability to direct higher reimbursement payments to healthcare facilities that primarily serve low-income patients.
One of the greatest obstacles to restoring operations at Weiss Memorial and West Suburban is having their Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) licenses renewed and restored, according to the Rev. Henry Barlow, an Insight Health board member.
Weiss had its license stripped earlier this month, while West Suburban anticipates the same action next week.
The physical condition of the hospitals is another major hurdle.
“Both (hospitals) are in terrible shape,” Barlow said. “There is a lot of equipment that is not working, simple things like the nurses call system. That whole system is out and needs to be replaced.”
The hospitals’ boilers, HVAC systems and elevators are also in need of repair.
One member of the Coalition to Save Safety Net Hospitals, the Rev. Robin Hood of Redeemed Outreach Ministries, discussed the medical centers’ future with Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch on Tuesday, emphasizing the need for state assistance.
Welch did not indicate whether funding from Springfield would be allocated to the hospitals.
Hood said he believes West Suburban could potentially resume some operations, such as the emergency department, by January if the necessary resources and regulatory approvals are secured.
