File Photo – Vista Medical Center East | Photo: Woo-Sung Shim / Lake and McHenry County Scanner
Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan had just 21 patients Thursday morning and closed one of its floors, an employee said, amid reports that a group of the hospital’s doctors could take over running it.
An employee told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that Vista Medical Center East had 21 patients on Thursday morning and that the hospital closed its fifth floor.
The fifth floor had only 15 patients so the hospital moved four of them to the intensive care unit and the rest to the second floor before closing it, the employee said.
American Healthcare Systems (AHS), the California-based, for-profit hospital chain that owns Vista Medical Center East, bought the hospital in July 2023.
A Vista Medical Center East spokesperson said Friday that Lake and McHenry County Scanner’s questions had been shared with AHS and hospital leadership and that they were awaiting a response.
Vista’s former chief financial officer, Carlos Alcazar, said in a December 2024 deposition in a staffing company’s lawsuit against the hospital that it is licensed for about 200 beds and averaged 100 patients a day in 2022 and 2023.
Alcazar said the number “went down to around 80 to 85 a day” from 2023 on.
Payroll was delayed again on November 6 when Vista’s human resources department told employees there was “a delay in processing payroll.”
Employees were told in a later email that day that payroll had been processed and that 64 employees would receive paper checks.
Employees paid through direct deposit were still waiting for their money the following afternoon, the employee said.
Employees were told in an email Monday morning that direct deposits “will be in employees accounts shortly,” according to a copy obtained by Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
The employee said shortly after noon Monday that they were “still waiting for this invisible money to hit my account.”
Staff were also sent an email about problems with their medical and prescription coverage.
The email said the organization is “currently facing several challenges,” including “disruptions impacting prescription fulfillment at the pharmacy counter, as well as delays in claim processing and member verification for certain medical services.”
Employees with a medical emergency were told to call 911 or go to the nearest emergency department and bring the invoice to human resources afterward. Those forced to pay out of pocket for a critical prescription or covered service were told to save their receipts for reimbursement, the email said.
“Our team is actively working on a solution and a path forward,” the email said. It is unclear what caused the disruptions.
The state ordered ambulances to stop bringing patients to Vista Medical Center East beginning at 7 a.m. last Saturday “until further notice” in a memo from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH).
The memo said the hospital would still accept walk-in patients.
An IDPH spokesperson called the missed payroll “completely unacceptable and irresponsible” in a statement to Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
The spokesperson said the state “does not have the ability to take over the management or immediate closure of a private-side hospital.”
IDPH revoked the hospital’s Level 2 trauma center designation on October 23, a day after its contracted anesthesia providers suspended all anesthesia services there over what they said was an unpaid invoice.
Community members fill the Patricia A. Jones Center in Waukegan for a town hall on the future of Vista Medical Center East on October 23, the same day the state revoked the hospital’s trauma center designation. | Photo: Daniel Blaine / Communal Conversations
Congressman Brad Schneider said in a statement Wednesday that AHS should “step aside and allow a responsible operator to come in,” joining Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham, who called on November 6 for the company to “sell the hospital to a responsible healthcare operator.”
Cunningham said Thursday evening that “reports of local physicians stepping up to run Vista Medical Center East are encouraging,” but that he remains “skeptical of any transitions or plans that involve executives from American Healthcare Systems.”
“Any viable path forward must guarantee that Vista Medical Center East remains open, fully operational, and completely accountable to the people of Waukegan,” Cunningham said.
Evelina Sarian, whose husband, Mike Sarian, leads AHS, said at a town hall on the hospital’s future in Waukegan on October 23 that the family had not received “an offer that was sustainable” and is “determined to keep it alive.”
Sarian said the family’s “immediate goal is to make it not for profit.”
Evelina Sarian (standing, center) speaks as Ann Lawrence, the chief legal officer for American Healthcare Systems (seated, left), State Sen. Adriane Johnson (at podium) and State Rep. Rita Mayfield (seated, right) listen during a town hall on the future of Vista Medical Center East at the Patricia A. Jones Center in Waukegan on October 23. | Photo: Daniel Blaine / Communal Conversations
State Rep. Rita Mayfield said at the same town hall that there was an offer on the table but AHS was “not engaging that particular offer right now.”
A tax buyer’s request for the deed to the hospital over its unpaid 2023 property taxes is set to return to Lake County court on November 20.