Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, Ill., has lost its level 2 trauma center designation after its contracted anesthesia group suspended services over a missed payment.
The Illinois Department of Public Health revoked the designation because the hospital lacks anesthesia staff, an IDPH spokesperson said in a statement shared with Becker’s Oct. 26.
The hospital remains open, and its emergency department is still accepting ambulances and walk-in patients, according to the spokesperson. The trauma designation is separate from the hospital’s license to operate.
The department also faulted hospital leadership’s communication.
“We are disappointed by the lack of clear communication from hospital leadership, as transparency is an essential component to protecting both patients and staff,” the spokesperson said.
IDPH has held weekly meetings with Vista leadership since Aug. 6 and encouraged the hospital to create contingency plans in case of a service interruption, the spokesperson said. Despite those meetings, IDPH did not receive advance notice from the hospital about a potential problem with anesthesia coverage.
The department said it will continue to work with Vista and other stakeholders to address the community’s needs.
The anesthesia providers halted new 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. State rules require level 2 trauma centers to have anesthesia staff on call who can arrive within 30 minutes.
In an Oct. 23 statement before the designation was revoked, Waukegan-based Vista Health System said it was evaluating the hospital’s scope of services against community needs and patient volumes. That statement did not address the anesthesia suspension.
This is the second time since early 2024 that the hospital has lost the designation. IDPH revoked it 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.
Becker’s has reached out to Vista Health System for comment and will update the article if more information becomes available.
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