Insight Health Systems announced a deal Sept. 17 to take over West Suburban Medical Center, estimating it could begin reopening Oak Park's shuttered hospital within four months. The company's recent track record in Ohio tells a different story.
In Warren, Ohio, Insight acquired two hospitals out of Steward Health Care's bankruptcy in November 2024. Both closed by March 2025. Neither has reopened.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) inspected both facilities in September 2025 and found conditions insufficient, citing needed improvements that blocked reopening plans, the Wednesday Journal reported. Insight briefly reopened a 24/7 emergency room at its Trumbull hospital in October 2025. That same month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) terminated its Medicare agreement with the facility for failing to comply with patient rights, discharge planning and emergency treatment requirements.
By November 2025, the emergency room closed again after ODH moved to revoke Insight's state license. In January 2026, Insight signed a settlement surrendering the license, Business Journal Daily reported.
Trumbull County Commissioner Rick Hernandez said Insight leadership told him "there were just overwhelming hurdles to climb to get this thing open and operating again."
All 143 employees at Insight Rehabilitation Hospital Hillside, the second Warren facility, were furloughed when it closed. Both Ohio hospitals remain shuttered.
When asked about the Ohio closures and what they could mean for West Suburban, Insight board member Rev. Dr. Henry Barlow declined to comment, according to the Wednesday Journal. Insight's media and public relations team also did not respond to the Journal's inquiry.
Insight's financial struggles
Insight's finances raise separate concerns. The company bought Chicago's former Mercy Hospital for $1 in 2021 and has received about $50 million in advances from the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services to keep it running, WBEZ reported. As of August 2026, Insight had repaid just over $1 million.
The Bronzeville hospital lost nearly $30 million in 2024, according to tax returns cited by WBEZ. As of February 2026, Insight owed more than $48 million to the state and was not in compliance with its repayment terms, the Chicago Tribune reported based on a Freedom of Information Act request.
The state declared a "financial emergency" at Insight's Chicago hospital as recently as 2024 after a billing-system upgrade failed, causing high levels of unpaid bills, according to WBEZ.
West Suburban doctors vote no confidence
In August 2026, the West Suburban Medical Center Medical Executive Committee and Chicago Medical Society Task Force voted "no confidence" in Insight, the Tribune reported. The group cited concerns about Insight's ability to provide "the transparency, accountability, physician collaboration and community involvement necessary to successfully reopen and sustain West Suburban Medical Center."
At a Sept. 17 press conference, Barlow responded to the vote. "Those individuals were led astray by some individuals who didn't know what they're talking about," he said.
Insight president and CEO Atif Bawahab said on Sept. 17, when the ownership agreement was announced, that Insight "has done this hard work before" and that the communities "cannot afford to lose their hospitals." Barlow estimated reopening could begin in about four months, while acknowledging no one yet knows the physical or financial condition of the hospital.
Before Insight can reopen, it must restore Weiss Memorial Hospital's state license, which was revoked in September 2026, and secure accreditation and federal funding eligibility for both hospitals.
