(Editor’s note: This is a developing story which will be regularly updated.)
Pipeline Health, the current owner of West Suburban Medical Center, declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday morning in the Southern District of Texas.
For months Pipeline has been negotiating the sale of both West Sub and Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago to a newly formed venture called Resilience Health.
The failure to close on that sale by Aug. 30 at a negotiated price of $92 million for the real estate involved was a critical factor in the bankruptcy declaration, according to a 53-page statement to the court. The statement was submitted by Russell Perry, who was identified as Pipeline’s chief transformation officer. He took on that role on Aug. 24, 2022.
In his statement, Perry said the seven-hospital group operating in California, Texas and Illinois was financially undercut by ongoing losses at West Sub and Weiss. In the 12 months ending this August, Perry reported the two Illinois properties had a combined loss of $69.7 million. The statement said the five other hospitals in the group had been financially propping up West Sub and Weiss pending their sale.
In a statement from Pipeline officials on Monday, Jane Brust, a spokesperson, said all of Pipeline’s hospitals and other medical facilities will continue to operate normally under bankruptcy protection. Pipeline also said it is continuing to negotiate with Resilience health but will also potentially seek other buyers for its properties.
