West Suburban Medical Center was one of three hospitals in the Chicago metro area to receive an F in the twice-annual Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade ratings announced earlier this month. Weiss Memorial, West Sub’s now-shuttered sister hospital that’s also owned by Resilience Health, was given an F too.
Significantly, West Sub did not complete the Leapfrog survey, which measures patient outcomes across nearly 30 categories, from infections to patient rights and staffing. Dr. Manoj Prasad, West Sub’s CEO, told the Tribune that gathering the data for the assessment was too time consuming as the hospital faces staffing shortages.
Leapfrog said that it uses other data sources to grade hospitals in addition to the information provided by hospitals in the survey.
Across the nation, only 23 hospitals received overall F grades in the current Leapfrog rating. In this area, Loretto Hospital in Austin received a B, while Rush Oak Park Hospital earned a C.
Resilience Health was formed in 2023 to purchase both Weiss and West Sub from Pipeline, a California-based provider. Both hospitals are considered safety net institutions based on the percentage of their patients covered by Medicare or Medicaid. In August, the federal government terminated Weiss Memorial’s connection to Medicare and Medicaid, effectively closing off financial reimbursements to Resilience. The hospital was closed shortly thereafter.
At a press conference over the summer, Prasad acknowledged that West Sub was in dire financial condition and decided how it paid bills based on the amount of money received on any given day.
