By Steve Sadin

Lake Country News

As management of Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan struggles to cut its financial losses and state Sen. Adriane Johnson, D-Buffalo Grove, is committed to keeping it open, making it a safety net hospital may be part of a solution.

Of all the patients the hospital treats in a year, Michael Sarian, the CEO of Vista owner American Healthcare Systems (AHS), said $26 million is spent on charity cases for which no revenue is received.

When AHS acquired Vista in July, Sarian said in a virtual meeting Thursday it was losing $3 million a month. Since then, the monthly losses have dropped to between $1 million and $1.5 million.

Johnson hinted making Vista a safety net hospital may help solve the financial problems, a subject she said she raised with Vista management months ago.

A safety net hospital — either by a legal obligation or its mission — provides healthcare for people regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay. Funding comes from sources like Medicare or Medicaid.

“We inquired, could Vista become a safety net hospital,” Johnson said. “They don’t have to be a nonprofit. They just have to meet certain criteria. If we have to amend the legislation because they are just several points away, we need to do that.”

Ways to solve Vista’s financial losses were part of a lengthier discussion with Johnson, local officials, Vista management and others Thursday in a virtual meeting to learn more about ways to ensure Waukegan is not left without a hospital.

“We want to do our part in making sure we are part of the solution ensuring we have a hospital in Waukegan,” Johnson said. “If we don’t have a hospital in Waukegan, Waukegan will be the largest city in the state of Illinois without a hospital.”

Vista’s woes came to a head on Feb. 2 when the Illinois Department of Public Health revoked its Level II Trauma status — Level II trauma centers can treat patients with serious injuries with general surgeons always available — and the debate over Vista went public.

Johnson said she scheduled Thursday’s meeting to let people know what she and state Rep. Rita Mayfield, D-Gurnee, were doing behind the scenes for months. Mayfield raised the issue of charity cases and other situations at Vista years before AHS bought it.

“When they talk about closing Vista, (it) is absolutely not an option,” Mayfield said. “No one will take the amount of charity cases we are generating in Waukegan. You cannot force that on Lake Forest, and Condell absolutely will not accept our patients. They will turn them away.”

Sarian said when AHS agreed to purchase Vista from Quorum Health, the seller indicated losses were much less than they actually were. Physician groups were getting paid slowly and late. Some stopped doing business with Vista. New groups are in the process of being hired.

Along with greater expenses than anticipated, Sarian said payments from insurance companies like Blue Cross and United Healthcare are slow and well below market. Negotiations are ongoing to improve the situation.

“We’re negotiating with everyone,” he said. “All these health plans, nothing was touched in 10 years. We did not get a 2% increase in 10 years. You cannot survive with that.”

Along with low insurance payment, Sarian said some of the doctors treating patients at Vista were keeping them in the hospital longer than standards dictated. Vista is trying to change that as well.

“For every patient we’re admitting, we’re losing money,” Sarian said. “We’re going to bring it to a level where the length of stay will be a reasonable time at least in federal guidelines. If (it should be) four days for pneumonia, it’s four days. Not six days.”