“For this community, I am telling you that people will die,” said Illinois State Senator Mike Simmons, speaking to the crowd that gathered in front of Weiss Memorial Hospital on Chicago’s North Side on September 22. “They will die if we don’t have a safety net hospital in Uptown. So we cannot lose this resource.”
ONE Northside and other community organizations called the rally to pressure the hospital’s director, Dr. Manoj Prasad, to appeal a decision by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to eliminate the hospital from its safety net program. At the time of the rally, Prasad had only two days to appeal the decision.
The hospital, which receives nearly two-thirds of its revenue from Medicare payments, has been plagued by complaints about upkeep and lack of supplies, resulting in an inability to provide basic services. The hospital’s emergency department has been closed to patients since August.
“With the hospital closing, the thousands of patients and hundreds of staff who depend on Weiss Memorial Hospital for their healthcare and livelihoods will be hung out to dry,” said Hannah Gelder from ONE Northside. “This is part of a larger story of disinvestment, corporate neglect of community, safety-net hospitals like Weiss and private, for-profit speculation in Uptown.”
While Prasad, who is also the CEO of Resilience Healthcare, the for-profit company that owns the hospital, has claimed for months that he would work with state lawmakers to appeal the CMS decision and remedy the shortcomings in care, he failed to take action.
“Dr. Prasad ghosted us,” said Simmons, who called on Prasad to file the appeal before the CMS’s September 24 deadline. “We need the CEO of this hospital and his private equity billionaire buddies to get their act together, because we’ve done our part.”
Late in the day on September 23, Sen. Simmons received the news that Prasad had filed the appeal.
“This is a big win for the community,” Simmons told WTTW on a broadcast that evening. “The reality is that Weiss hospital has several improvements that have to be made for the patients that use this facility; it is one of the only safety net hospitals on the far northside of Chicago.”
The state legislature is withholding $4 million in funding for the hospital, which will be restored if the hospital follows through on its promises and is restored to safety-net status by CMS.