(Berwyn, IL) – Without any fanfare, Illinois’ governor has signed a new law that ends fast-track closure of hospitals and hospital-based health care services in response to the controversial attempted closure of the Melrose Park-based Westlake Hospital, an attempt that ignited fury among local officials and residents.

"State Rep. Kathy Willis, who spearheaded the legislative response to the Westlake closure, has earned enormous gratitude from her constituents for her willingness to push back against greedy corporate owners who are seeking to shutter the facility and a rogue state board that abided the profiteers," said Melrose Park’s top lawyer, Michael Del Galdo. "The days of vulture capitalist health care raiders swooping into Illinois to breakup and close local hospitals with the help of political insiders are over."

Pipeline Health, a California-based health care outfit, bought Westlake in January 2019 for $70 million and immediately turned-around and sought to close the hospital that serves principally low-income, minority residents from the region, blindsiding local officials and lawmakers, such as Willis, a Democrat from Addison, who represents Melrose Park.

Willis’ legislation, Senate Bill 1739, supported by the Illinois Hospital Association, scraps an earlier state law that exempted a hospital closure from adhering to the more thorough "certificate of need" review process overseen by the gubernatorial-appointed Illinois Health Facilities Services Review Board.

That panel voted 7-0 at the end of April to approve Westlake’s closure despite an ongoing lawsuit, a vote that shocked observers and drew a stinging rebuke from Melrose Park’s mayor, Ron Serpico, who cried foul at the time.

"It’s puzzling that the board would so flagrantly disregard their own rules," Serpico said in an April 30 statement. "As a result of their action we are calling today on Attorney General Kwame Raoul to investigate the [Health Facilities and Services Review Board] decision to approve Pipeline Health’s fraudulent purchase and closing of Westlake Hospital."

Willis noted on May 30 to Capitol News Illinois, when the Illinois House’s approved her bill, that the new legislation corrects a previous state law that permitted expedited hospital closures, a law that set the stage for an "unscrupulous hospital owner to come through and possibly close my hospital in my district without going through the proper channels."

In addition to Westlake, owners of MetroSouth Medical Center, a 314-bed facility in Blue Island, announced on June 11 that it too would shutter its operations by the end of the year.

In addition to submitting hospital closures to a more unforgiving vetting process, Willis’ new law, according to Del Galdo, who is also the managing partner of the Berwyn-based Del Galdo Law Group, LLC, also requires that if a hospital owner seeks to discontinue a category of service at a facility. For example, if corporate chiefs want to close a neonatal intensive care unit or an adult mental health bed wing, they can seek an exemption once every six-months per facility instead of unlimited attempts.

Any additional health care service cuts must be subject to the rigorous "certificate of need" process. Moreover, owners of a health facility that intend to close that facility must provide a paid, public notice in a newspaper in the region.

The law is effective immediately.

Del Galdo also noted that a Cook County judge has ordered a stay on Westlake’s closure while a lawsuit seeking to block the closure remains active.

davidormsby@davidormsby.com