Vista Health System’s decision to suspend obstetrical and neonatal services effective Oct. 28 at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan is creating more questions than answers in the community as local officials scramble to learn more.
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham is engaging hospital leadership and others to learn more about the decision and its impact on the community, according to a statement issued by the city Thursday.
Cunningham “is actively engaging with the leadership of Vista, Lake County health officials and regional healthcare partners to understand the full impact of this decision and to explore every available option to support our community,” the city said in the statement.
State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, said in an email Friday that the latest news from Vista, “is another blow to the community.”
George Bridges Jr., a member of the hospital’s community board, said the number of women delivering their babies at Vista was increasing, making the decision to suspend services a surprise to him.
Vista Health Systems announced in a news release late Thursday afternoon in Waukegan that it is suspending its obstetrical and neonatal services effective Oct. 28 because the number of monthly births was far less than needed to pay for the staff taking care of the patients.
Generally, a labor and delivery program at a hospital like Vista requires 100 births a month to cover the costs of the program making it “difficult to sustain the ongoing investment maternity care requires, particularly in a community facing health disparities,” Vista said in the release.
“This was a very difficult decision, but one that had to be made,” Vista CEO Kim Needham said in the release.
Faisal Gill, the chief legal officer of Vista owner American Healthcare Systems (AHS), said in a telephone interview Thursday, if a woman arrived at the hospital ready to give birth, she would not be turned away and the baby would be delivered.
Bridges said Needham and other hospital officials told him and other board members they were working with the Lake County Health Department to increase the number of women who sought obstetrical and neonatal care.
From a low of between eight to 18 monthly births, Bridges said he and his colleagues were told the situation was improving, though still not reaching the level of sustainability. The decision to suspend services came as a shock, he said.
“I’m very disappointed in this decision,” Bridges said. “We were on the right trajectory. We were averaging one a day. One month, we had 40. We were (told we were) partnering with the Lake County Health Department.”
Lake County Board Chair Sandy Hart — who has remained abreast of Vista’s problems the past two years, including unpaid property taxes and bills plus a brief suspension of its Level 2 Trauma Center status — was surprised about the partnership between the hospital and health department.
“I’ve not heard any inkling about it,” she said on Friday. “This topic is something that would be talked about, and I have heard nothing.”
Health Department Executive Director Chris Hoff said prenatal clients at the department’s clinic make their own choice about a hospital. Approximately 20% chose Vista. He is sad about Vista’s choice.
“It is unfortunate that we can no longer offer Vista as a delivery option,” Hoff said. “Our priority remains ensuring that every patient receives the care and support they need for a safe and healthy pregnancy. We will continue working closely with our patients to connect them with trusted providers and resources throughout their prenatal journey.”
Johnson, who has said throughout the more than two years of AHS’s ownership of Vista that it is vital there be a hospital in Waukegan, was also taken aback by the news that the hospital will stop offering obstetrical and neonatal care to the community.
“The news that Vista Hospital will no longer have emergency OB care is yet another blow to our community,” Johnson said in an email. “The failed leadership of the previous Vista heads has left the current CEO in an impossible situation to save our hospital. It never should have come to this.”
Pledging to work with Needham to find “ways to get expecting mothers and families the care they need during one of the most important times in their lives,” Johnson said she will continue to work for the community and its “most vulnerable population.”
When AHS purchased Vista from Quorum Health Corporation two years ago, Gill said he anticipated profitability within a year. Decisions are still being made to reach a breakeven point and then turn a profit, but it is taking longer than hoped.
At the time of the purchase, Gill said that by buying the corporation rather than the assets of the company, they also took on existing debt. Most of it is unsecured, but he said Thursday that rather than file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization, Vista wants to pay its debts.
One of those debts is the Lake County property taxes due last year which remain unpaid. County Clerk Anthony Vega said those taxes were sold and must be paid to the tax buyer by Nov. 13 to avoid further action.
A search for AHS’s website on Friday led to a different Los Angeles area company — Healthcare Systems of America. That company’s CEO is Michael Sarian, the name of the person who headed AHS.
Healthcare Systems of America lists six hospitals it owns in Florida and two in Texas, but none in Illinois.
