Employees of Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan have not been paid on time after the hospital system said an “error” delayed payroll, sparking concerns after a different Chicago area hospital temporarily closed this week following a similar issue.
Multiple employees of Vista Medical Center East, located at 1324 North Sheridan Road in Waukegan, told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that the hospital had not paid employees as it was supposed to on Thursday.
“Employees have shared that they were told this delay was due to a time clock or processing issue. However, there’s a pattern of concerns being raised about payroll reliability,” Waukegan 8th Ward Alderman Dr. Lynn Florian told Lake and McHenry County Scanner.
“Regardless of the cause, workers deserve transparency and to be paid accurately and on time—every time,” Florian said.
An internal letter sent to employees Thursday evening and obtained by Lake and McHenry County Scanner confirmed the “delay in payroll funding.”
Vista Health System CEO/COO Kim Needham said the delay was due to a processing error involving the company’s corporate office funding and iSolved. iSolved is payroll software.
“The issue has been identified and has being resolved. Payroll funds will be processed tomorrow morning,” Needham said.
The letter said that deposits will post later in the day than normal due to standard banking times.
“This delay is unacceptable, and many hours have been spent with urgency to fix this error. I understand, your leaders understand, the impact this has on you and your families and our taking steps to avoid this going forward,” Needham said.
“My apologies to you…. you work hard, and dedicate your time to Vista every day,” she told employees in the letter.
The issue comes just two days after West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park announced it was temporarily closing due to payroll funding issues.
“We have currently suspended all patient care services due to an ongoing technology related challenge that needs to be addressed before we can resume services,” the medical center said.
The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the CEO of Resilience Healthcare, which owns West Suburban Medical Center, blamed the hospital’s year-old new electronic medical record system for the payroll issues, saying that the billing and collection system has serious problems despite repairs being made.
The issue at Vista Medical Center comes as American Healthcare Systems (AHS), a private equity group that owns Vista, appears to be facing significant financial issues.
The hospital announced in September 2025 it was shutting down its child labor and delivery services due to millions of dollars in losses each year.
The company has not paid its property taxes for 2023 and 2024 and now owes over $2 million for those taxes, along with interest and fees.
One of the lienholders, FNA DZ LLC, has since filed a petition for tax deed in the Lake County Circuit Court on January 15 to initiate foreclosure proceedings against the hospital.
Some of the Vista Medical Center East parking lots in the vicinity of the hospital were recently foreclosed on by a third tax buyer through the tax sale process, Lake County Clerk Anthony Vega said.
Florian said earlier this month that Vista will likely owe over $3 million in total when property taxes come due again in June.
Vista also owes approximately $300,000 in past due water bills to the City of Waukegan.
She said Vista’s future remains unclear at this time as to what could happen in the foreclosure process and whether they will pay the backtaxes or not.
“Everyone deserves world-class health care — regardless of where they happen to live. When financial obligations go unmet, patient services and safety are at risk. Calling attention to this is necessary because a community’s health is on the line,” Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek, who is a nurse anesthetist who previously worked at the hospital, told Lake and McHenry County Scanner last year.
Banek has been sounding the alarm since early 2024 about issues with Vista Medical Center East, which was purchased by AHS in 2023.
The hospital’s Level 2 trauma designation was temporarily revoked after a state and federal investigation into issues at the hospital in 2024. In January 2025, a female patient at Vista was found dead on the rooftop after leaving her patient room, walking out an exit and freezing to death.