U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider has called on American Healthcare Systems to divest the hospital. The Illinois Department of Public Health this week called the operator's ongoing problems "unacceptable" and "irresponsible," saying its "lack of communication, transparency, and responsible financial management and contingency planning is extremely concerning."

The state revoked Vista's trauma status last month, citing the absence of an anesthesiology department needed to care for surgical patients. It was the second time regulators pulled the designation; the first came in 2024 before being reinstated later that year.

AHS, which bought Vista in 2023 as its fifth owner in less than 30 years, promised an expansion of services. Instead, the hospital's troubles deepened. In January 2025, 28-year-old patient Chelsea Adolphus was found dead of hypothermia after accidentally being locked on the hospital's rooftop for hours. In October 2025, Vista stopped offering maternity and obstetrics care.

The financial picture is equally grim. State and county records show AHS has failed to pay more than its employees. ComEd confirmed the company owes $2.2 million and counting in unpaid power bills, while the city of Waukegan is owed more than $300,000 in unpaid water bills. Vista carries more than $2 million in unpaid property taxes, and state records indicate AHS — which also owns Gateway Medical Center in downstate Granite City — owes roughly $130 million in unpaid healthcare provider taxes and repayments of advance loans the state awarded so the hospital could meet payroll.

Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek, who worked at Vista as an anesthetist until 2024, said her paychecks began bouncing that year. She has been raising alarms about AHS ever since.

"I have never seen anything like what I've seen here at Vista Medical Center and it is an injustice to the patients and the community members that live here," Banek said. "This is chronic behavior, taking advantage of the community members here and the goodwill of places like city of Waukegan that provide water and ComEd that provides electricity, none of whom want to shut off those services because they don't want the patients to suffer."

Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said the city has adjusted by putting an extra EMS vehicle into service to shuttle an average of 600 monthly emergency patients to nearby hospitals such as Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville and Northwestern Medicine Lake Forest Hospital.

"[AHS] needs to think seriously about relieving itself of this asset," Cunningham said.

Waukegan Fire Chief Matt Burleson said his department is managing — for now. "The biggest thing is instead of a five-minute response time and having our ambulances still in town at the hospital, they're now 20 minutes away, 25 minutes away," he said.

For longtime residents like 86-year-old Ellen Powell, who lives within blocks of Vista, the decline is personal. "I was born there. I worked there. I'd hoped to die there," she said. Now she said she is relieved that emergency vehicles will take her elsewhere. "I've been so thankful that the emergency vehicles will no longer take patients there because it was my biggest fear, having some kind of problem and getting dumped in that hospital."

Powell said Waukegan residents deserve a local hospital with a working emergency room and better care. "I have to drive by the hospital to go to a decent hospital to get my care. And it infuriates me every time I do that," she said.

Efforts to reach American Healthcare Systems by phone and email were unsuccessful.