Beleaguered Sacred Heart Hospital, whose owner faces federal charges in an alleged kickback and health care fraud scheme, abruptly shut its doors Monday.
The last patient was wheeled out about 5:30 p.m. and taken from the West Side hospital by ambulance. It was unclear how many patients had to be moved out of the hospital or where they were taken.
The transfers were being monitored by the Illinois Department of Public Health, which was notified Monday afternoon that the hospital was closing.
“I don’t know how many patients,” department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said. “That is one of the reasons we have someone going out there, to check the whole situation.”
Arnold said the state requires 90-day notification of a hospital closure. She was uncertain what sanctions the hospital, at 3240 W. Franklin Blvd., could face.
The state tagged the hospital earlier this year for numerous violations. In late May, after the April announcement of federal charges against hospital owner Edward Novak and others, federal financial reimbursements to Sacred Heart were suspended.
An attorney for Westside Community Hospital, the corporation that owns Sacred Heart, said losing the funding was a factor in the decision to close.
Novak is at the center of a federal probe that includes alleged kickbacks for patient referrals and a conspiracy to defraud Medicare and Medicaid.
Among the charges is that physicians performed unnecessary procedures on patients, including tracheotomies.