Daisy Rodriguez (inset), who was named CEO and chief nursing officer of Vista Health System on August 5, is no longer leading the hospital system that operates Vista Medical Center East, 1324 North Sheridan Road in Waukegan, after only about two months, employees say. Rodriguez was the fifth CEO to lead the hospital system in three years. | Background Photo: Woo-Sung Shim / Lake and McHenry County Scanner; Inset: Vista Health System
The fifth CEO to lead Vista Health System in three years is out after only two months on the job, according to employees, and the Waukegan hospital system has not said who is now running it.
Daisy Rodriguez, who was named CEO and chief nursing officer of Vista Health System on August 5, is no longer the hospital system’s CEO after only approximately two months, according to multiple hospital employees who spoke to Lake and McHenry County Scanner on the condition of anonymity.
One employee said Rodriguez had been removed from the hospital system’s internal system.
The leadership page on Vista Health System’s website still listed Rodriguez as CEO and chief nursing officer on Friday.
It is unclear when Rodriguez left the position and the employees’ accounts differed on whether she was terminated or resigned. One employee said Rodriguez remains with Vista in a consultant role.
It is unclear who is now leading the hospital system, which operates Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner asked Vista Health System on Wednesday whether Rodriguez is still CEO.
Vista Health System Community Engagement and Marketing Director Deanna Cruz said Thursday she hoped “to provide a response to the questions pertaining to Vista Health System soon.”
Cruz had not answered the question as of Friday evening, including in response to a follow-up email sent Friday afternoon that also asked who is leading the hospital.
Rodriguez did not respond to emails sent to her hospital email address Wednesday and Friday.
Rodriguez’s LinkedIn profile still lists her as CEO and chief nursing officer of Vista Medical Center East but the work history on the profile does not include the hospital and lists her as the founder and CEO of a health care consulting company since November 2025.
Rodriguez was the fifth CEO to lead the hospital system in three years and took over after Kim Needham resigned effective August 7.
Vista Health System said in an August 24 statement introducing Rodriguez that she brought “more than 25 years of healthcare leadership experience across nursing, hospital and ambulatory operations, community health, financial stewardship and organizational transformation.”
The announcement said Rodriguez, a registered nurse who also holds master’s degrees in public health and nursing, planned to expand access to care while “strengthening and stabilizing the organization.”
“It is an honor to serve Vista Health System. Together, we will build on our commitment to compassionate, quality care while strengthening our team and the communities we proudly serve,” Rodriguez said in the statement.
Needham served as CEO for less than a year and a half after she was appointed in April 2025.
Aundrea Styles served as acting interim CEO before Needham after Kevin Spiegel, who was appointed CEO in October 2024, left the post in March 2025.
Bianca Defilippi served as CEO before Spiegel after she was appointed when American Healthcare Systems (AHS), a California-based, for-profit hospital chain, bought the hospital system in July 2023.
The turnover has come as the hospital system has struggled financially under AHS ownership.
The Illinois Department of Public Health revoked Vista Medical Center East’s Level 2 trauma center designation in early February 2024 and reinstated it a month later in March.
Vista closed the Freestanding Emergency Center at its Lindenhurst campus in July 2024 after it did not renew the facility’s state license.
The hospital furloughed 69 workers in January 2025 as it sought emergency funding from the state.
Employees were not paid on time in March and April, which the hospital attributed to delays in payroll funding.
Employees said staff were handed paper checks instead of direct deposit for weeks over the summer and some of those checks bounced for insufficient funds in September.
Precision Practice Management, a company that handled patient registration, scheduling, insurance verification and billing for Vista, ended its contracts with the hospital effective June 30 after it was not paid for its services and laid off 34 employees who had worked at the hospital.
A judge entered a default judgment in July ordering the hospital to pay ComEd $822,321.51 in unpaid electric bills after the hospital stopped paying on a settlement and never appeared in court.
ComEd sued the hospital again on August 28 seeking more than $1.4 million.
The hospital also owes the City of Waukegan hundreds of thousands of dollars for water.
AHS has also not paid the hospital’s property taxes for 2023, 2024 or 2025 and owes more than $3 million on the hospital property with interest and fees, county records show.
A tax buyer that purchased the hospital’s unpaid 2023 taxes filed a petition in January seeking to take ownership of the hospital through a tax deed. The case is still pending in Lake County Circuit Court.
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said in August that the hospital’s decline was “a devastating blow and a direct result of the corporate failure of American Healthcare Systems.”