West Suburban Hospital owner to discuss future plans after closure

The owner of West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park is expected to provide an update on Wednesday after the hospital closed last week.

The hospital has blamed its problems on a faulty billing system and has said it will reopen once it has the revenue needed to fund operations. 

The community has been left without vital health services.

State Representative LaShawn Ford will join the owner to address the media at 10 a.m.

Ford says the owner wants to reopen as soon as June. But lawmakers want answers about how that would happen.

"What we've been fighting for is more access to healthcare, and this is definitely a reverse of our fight to make sure that we have more access to healthcare on the west side of Chicago," Ford told CBS News Chicago. 

The hospital suddenly closed last Thursday, blaming a failed electronic billing system that left the hospital without enough revenue to stay open.

Patients were transferred out or discharged, and the emergency room shut down, leaving this community without a safety net hospital. Safety net hospitals serve some of the most vulnerable patients.

The president and CEO of Insight Hospital says he is now in talks with the owner of West Suburban to step in and help stabilize the hospital.