A group of faith and community leaders are pushing the governor’s office to step in to help reopen Weiss Memorial Hospital and West Suburban Medical Center — as a battle over the hospitals’ futures drags on in court.
“We’re calling on Gov. (JB) Pritzker to step up and address this public health emergency,” said the Rev. Robin Hood, a prominent Chicago pastor and community activist, during a news conference Tuesday. “The state has failed our families and seniors. We want him to meet with us, to work with the community to reopen our hospitals.”
The community leaders said they’ve asked the governor’s office for a meeting this week.
“We’re demanding an immediate meeting with the governor and the administrative agencies actually responsible for this mess,” said Marc Kaplan, a co-founder and board member with Northside Action for Justice. “Not next week, not next year, in 72 hours.”
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A spokesperson for the governor’s office did not answer a question from the Tribune on Tuesday about whether the office would meet with the community leaders.
But the spokesperson said in a statement, “Despite intensive financial and operational support from the State of Illinois throughout Resilience Health’s tenure, West Suburban and Weiss Hospitals are ultimately private facilities whose leadership was both unable and unwilling to do everything in their power necessary to keep their facilities in operation — and they never presented the State with any formal request or viable plan to continue operations.”
The news conference was held in front of the Daley Center, just hours before a court hearing there related to the hospitals’ futures.
Weiss, in Uptown, closed in August after the federal government said it would cut off the hospital from Medicare funding following a slate of problems. West Suburban, in Oak Park, closed in March with its majority owner, Dr. Manoj Prasad, saying that it was running short on cash because of issues with its billing system.
The hospitals’ owners have been battling one another in court since shortly after West Suburban’s closure.
Reddy Rathnaker Patlola’s company Ramco Healthcare Holdings, which owns the hospitals’ property, sued the hospitals’ operating company, Resilience Healthcare. Ramco sought to have the hospitals placed in a receivership, alleging mismanagement by Resilience. Resilience is 60% owned by Prasad and 40% owned by Patlola.
Cook County Circuit Judge Patrick Stanton, however, denied that request for a receivership in June. He denied the request just days after each side agreed in principle to the terms of a settlement, according to court documents. Stanton said at the time, “I believe there’s a framework in place that will lead to the reopening of the hospitals.”
But in the nearly two months since then, efforts to negotiate and finalize a written settlement agreement have stalled, with Resilience “seemingly unhappy with the deal they reached,” according to a Ramco court filing. That prompted Ramco to file a motion July 10 asking the judge to enforce the settlement terms reached in late May or appoint a receiver.
At a hearing Tuesday, Resilience’s lawyer Howard Brookins Jr., a former Chicago alderman, said he had only just received a document from Ramco’s lawyer that morning and hadn’t had a chance to review it yet with Prasad.
Another court hearing is scheduled for Friday.
The faith and community leaders who gathered in front of the Daley Center on Tuesday said they are tired of waiting.
The community leaders also criticized a decision by the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board last week to extend by six months Weiss’ suspension of services.
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Resilience had previously notified the board that it was temporarily suspending Weiss’ services as of last August, but such suspensions are only supposed to last for one year before the hospital must get the board’s approval. The board decided last week to allow the temporary suspension of services to continue for another six months.
The board’s decision essentially preserves the status quo while the hospitals’ owners continue their court fight and seek to resolve regulatory issues.
“They just gave him a blanket … six months,” Hood said of the board’s decision. “How do you not hold him accountable (for) what he did the last five years and give him six more months?”
Board Chair Debra Savage said Tuesday she could not comment on the issue because it’s an active item for the board.