After abruptly shuttering last month, West Suburban Medical Center announced Wednesday morning that it is taking a step toward reopening by resuming some outpatient services.
The hospital is gradually reopening its clinic starting Wednesday, according to a statement released by the hospital. Patients are being contacted to schedule appointments, the statement said. The clinic will initially offer primary care visits, then some specialty visits and then testing, according to the statement.
Some staff who were furloughed when the hospital closed will return to support the clinic, according to the statement. The statement did not say how many would return.
The hospital’s emergency department and inpatient units remained closed Wednesday.
“Getting the clinic back open and getting patients scheduled is our first priority,” said hospital owner Dr. Manoj Prasad in a statement. “We are slowly bringing staff back and rebuilding operations step by step.”
The unexpected news comes less than a month after Prasad closed the hospital, citing problems with a billing system that he said led to the hospital not being able to collect many payments for about a year. According to the statement released Wednesday morning, the resumption of services is being funded by dollars “recovered through the hospital’s initial billing remediation process.”
During a news conference earlier this month, Prasad had initially said he hoped to reopen the hospital this summer.
The news Wednesday morning follows pressure from his landlord and doctors. On April 9, Prasad’s business partner and landlord Reddy Rathnaker Patlola issued eviction notices to Prasad’s company Resilience Healthcare, telling Resilience it had five days to pay more than $24 million in rent or vacate the hospital facility. Prasad filed a lawsuit in Cook County Circuit Court over the eviction notices Tuesday.
Also, on Monday, the Chicago Medical Society and the medical staff at West Suburban sent a letter to Gov. JB Pritzker asking the governor to intervene. In the letter, they called upon Pritzker to use his executive authority to reopen the hospital, to direct emergency funding to the hospital to stabilize operations and appoint an interim management team.
More to come.
