Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan is once again a Level II trauma center, allowing ambulances to bring patients in need of emergency care to the hospital for treatment.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) entered an order Monday afternoon in Chicago lifting the revocation of Vista’s trauma center status imposed on Feb. 5, thus reinstating Vista to a Level II hospital.
State Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, who has been working with Vista and state officials to ensure the hospital cured the compliance gaps that caused the revocation, said she was glad to see the order.
“With the full restoration of their Level II designation, Vista has demonstrated its commitment to ensuring full compliance today and in the future,” Johnson said Monday. “I look forward to monitoring the progress of their plan to turn the hospital around to offer the same level of care our residents deserve.”
Feisal Gill, the chief legal officer of American Healthcare Systems (AHS) which owns Vista, said in a text he was glad to see the certification restored.
“It will further help us serve the community better,” Gill wrote.
Waukegan Mayor Ann Taylor, who has monitored the situation since the Feb. 5 revocation, said Monday she was always confident the trauma center status would be restored. The hospital was under close scrutiny while it made the necessary adjustments, she said.
“They have had more inspectors in that hospital over the last few weeks, (so) I can’t believe anything would be missed at this point. I am so thrilled they’re getting it back. It’s what our residents need and deserve.”
Taylor said the city will continue its vigilance, but she understands it will take time for Vista management to put the hospital on a stable financial footing. The hospital’s difficulties preceded AHS, she said.
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“We are watching it like hawks,” the mayor said. “No one is giving them a free pass. That hospital has been dysfunctional for many, many years. You can’t have a new company come in and, in eight months’ time, change everything.”
AHS purchased Vista last summer. Michael Sarian, the company’s CEO, said in a virtual meeting with Johnson, Taylor and members of the public on Feb.15 that the hospital was losing $3 million a month when AHS took control. Gill said Saturday the losses have been more than halved since then.
Mike Claffey, a spokesperson for the IDPH, said in a February email the Level II trauma designation was revoked, “due to (the hospital’s) absence of essential services needed to maintain this designation, including lack of a blood bank, anesthesia, neurology, urology, or a full-time trauma coordinator.”
Claffey said Monday Vista restored all services necessary to regain its Level Ii status, including a blood bank, anesthesia, neurology, urology or a full-time trauma coordinator
Level II trauma centers can treat patients with serious injuries resulting from shootings, crashes and similar traumatic incidents, with general surgeons always available.
During a meeting Saturday at the Patricia Jones Center in Waukegan hosted by Johnson and state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Gurnee, Gill said he anticipated the trauma center status would be restored Monday. Most of the two-hour gathering was devoted to questions from a crowd of more than 80 people, and at least 40 more online.
Gill has said on several occasions, including Saturday’s meeting, that he anticipated the hospital will be in a breakeven position this summer. When AHS took control, there was a debt of approximately $25 million.
In the past few months, Gill said Saturday, some doctors and other service providers have left. In some cases, it was because they were not paid or the payments were taking too long to be made. Those debts are being resolved, Gill said.
Dr. Mary Maish, Vista’s chief medical officer since Jan. 24, was also at the meeting Saturday. She said since she started, she has hired nine doctors. Before joining Vista, she was the director of thoracic and foregut surgery at Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital.