Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, Ill., is under review by the Illinois Department of Public Health to determine whether it can keep its level 2 trauma center designation after its contracted anesthesia group suspended services over a missed payment, the Lake and McHenry County Scanner reported Oct. 23.
The providers halted new anesthesia services at noon Oct. 22 in the operating room, emergency department, cardiac catheterization lab, endoscopy department and ICU. The group said the hospital missed an Oct. 16 invoice deadline under a Sept. 23 payment agreement, and services will stay suspended until overdue payments are made.
State rules require level 2 trauma centers to have anesthesia staff on call who can arrive within 30 minutes. An IDPH spokesperson told the outlet that surveyors would visit Oct. 23 and that the hospital has not been placed on bypass.
Waukegan-based Vista Health System said in an Oct. 23 statement shared with Becker’s that it is evaluating the hospital’s scope of services against community needs and patient volumes.
“We are working with the appropriate state regulatory agencies as we evaluate and implement changes to our scope of services, which is a normal part of hospital operations,” the system said. “Patient safety and continuity of care remain central to these decisions.”
The system said patients are transferred to other facilities when clinically appropriate. The statement did not mention the anesthesia suspension or the missed payment.
Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek, CRNA, asked IDPH to investigate and said the hospital’s urology specialists have also left. “According to the information provided to me, both service losses are the result of nonpayment,” Ms. Banek said in the article. Waukegan-based Vista Health System said it is reviewing the hospital’s scope of services with state regulators but did not address the suspension.
IDPH revoked the trauma designation Feb. 2, 2024, citing in part a lack of anesthesia, and restored it March 11, 2024. In January 2025, a patient died of hypothermia after being found on the hospital’s roof. In September 2026, some employees’ paper paychecks bounced, which the system attributed to a banking issue.
Daisy Rodriguez, MSN, RN, exited as CEO and chief nursing officer Oct. 6 after about two months, the fifth leader, counting an interim, since American Healthcare Systems acquired Vista in July 2023. Kevin Spiegel, a senior vice president at the owner and Vista’s former CEO, is providing interim support. A tax buyer is also seeking the hospital property through a tax deed, with a court date set for Nov. 20.
Becker’s reached out to the Illinois Department of Public Health for a statement. The article will be updated if any more information is provided.
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