Patients were met this week with locked doors and little-to-no answers as fears about the potential closure of a Chicago hospital rise.
“I have all my doctors here. I’ve been here many years, but they’re not giving me any information. They’re not letting me know anything” said patient Maria Burke.
Signs outside Chicago’s Weiss Hospital directed patients to its nearby professional building, but access to the hospital itself appeared gone.
The hospital in the city’s Uptown neighborhood is expected to see its Medicaid funding withdrawn Saturday. Medicaid payments make up about 80% of the hospital’s revenue, leading many to question the hospital’s future.
State Rep. Hoan Huynh, who represents the area, told NBC Chicago the hospital was expected to shutter its emergency room Friday morning.
Burke, who receives care at the hospital, said when it comes to what’s happening with the hospital, even her doctor didn’t have answers.
“…They can’t give me an answer because they don’t know. Is the facility itself open or closed? The facility itself is closed. It’s just where our doctors are on this side of the building.”
In July, the hospital, which has dealt with air conditioning problems this summer, was notified by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services that on Aug. 9, the hospital’s agreement would be terminated for failure to comply with nursing, environmental and emergency services standards.
We reached out to the hospital’s owner, Dr. Manoj Prasad, but he has not returned our calls, texts or emails.
Days before the federal government revoked the safety net hospital’s Medicare access, state investigators found the hospital had been operating a “makeshift” emergency department in an office building that lacked the basic equipment and staff to properly care for patients, according to state records obtained by the Sun-Times.
Weiss is owned by the same company that owns West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park. Back in June, we asked its owner about the cost of Medicaid funding and what it could do to the hospitals.
“Maybe struggle…maybe shut down,” Prasad said at the time.
At a separate event calling for more funding for community health care, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois said he is tracking the situation at Weiss.
“We have been in touch with them to investigate some reports we have received about the quality of care and safety for the patients,” he stated.
For now, Burke said she doesn’t know what to do next.
“They’re keeping us in limbo,” she said.
Activists, emergency room staff, local officials and community members are expected to join together for a “rally and mourning” Friday afternoon.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
