The Illinois State Health Facilities and Services Review Board voted 6-0 on June 7 to allow El Segundo, Calif.-based Pipeline Health to sell two Illinois hospitals to Michigan-based Resilience Healthcare for $92 million, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The hospitals are Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, Ill.
The recently created Resilience Healthcare is a for-profit company led by Manoj Prasad, MD, who began as a physician but has worked to help turn around healthcare facilities, according to the Tribune.
"Over the past 30 years I've had the privilege of leading numerous healthcare organizations and have rescued a number of challenged facilities," Dr. Prasad told the board June 7, according to the Tribune. "I have moved to live in this community with my family, and I plan to stay here with my ear to the ground to better understand the community's needs."
He said his priority is to bring financial stability to the hospitals and open new services. He added his company will be able to save money by improving the hospitals' revenue collection and electronic records systems.
New Jersey businessman Reddy Rathnaker Patlola is a financial partner with Resilience and will be an investor in the deal and the hospitals' operations, according to the report. Mr. Patlola's company, Ramco Healthcare Holdings, will own the land the hospitals are on, and Resilience will have a long-term lease agreement with Mr. Patlola.
Pipeline purchased the two hospitals and the now shuttered Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park, Ill., three years ago. The health system has since angered the community by closing Westlake after saying it lost too much money and for selling a Weiss Memorial parking lot to a developer to build apartments, which some worried would worsen gentrification, according to the Tribune.
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