Employees at Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan say their paychecks bounced this week because of insufficient funds and most still have not been paid, the latest in a string of payroll problems at the financially troubled hospital.
Multiple employees told Lake and McHenry County Scanner on Thursday and Friday that paper checks handed out to staff this week were returned by their banks for insufficient funds.
Staff at the hospital have reportedly been receiving paper checks instead of direct deposit for over a month.
An employee told Lake and McHenry County Scanner in mid-August that it was the third consecutive week that staff had been forced to pick up paper checks.
The hospital’s human resources department sent an email to all staff last month saying it had “received confirmation” that paper payroll checks would be available for pickup at the HR office beginning the following day, a Friday, and would remain available through Monday, August 24. Any checks left unclaimed after that date would be mailed to employees.
“We understand that this situation has created an inconvenience, and we sincerely apologize,” the email said. “Leadership and our Corporate team are actively working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and hope to have a permanent resolution soon.”
Alton Knight Jr., the hospital’s director of clinical operations, acknowledged this week’s bounced checks in a message sent Thursday morning in an internal group chat among hospital staff.
“I’m receiving information that some checks are being returned for insufficient funds. Whoever has experienced this, I sincerely apologize,” Knight said. “Let me see what, if anything, I can find out and I’ll get that information to you all.”
Knight, a nurse executive, oversees the hospital’s emergency department, critical care, cardiac catheterization lab, EKG and EMS service lines.
“All staff checks bounced,” one employee told Lake and McHenry County Scanner on Thursday morning.
A second employee said Thursday evening that staff was informed of the problem that day and that a meeting with management was held at 3 p.m.
“There was a meeting at 3 PM with management and have not heard anything from them yet,” the employee said.
An employee in the staff group chat asked  Thursday evening whether staff would be getting “any announcement or even acknowledgement on what is happening to us.”
Another employee, who works in the hospital’s emergency room, said Friday morning that there were still no funds for anyone.
One of the employees told Lake and McHenry County Scanner Friday afternoon that hospital executives had still not sent any communication to staff about the bounced checks.
“Yesterday our unit director was calling staff individually stating that staff affected may be paid by direct deposit overnight, but most if not all staff that were affected were not paid,” the employee said.
A spokesperson for Vista Medical Center East did not return a request for comment Friday.
The bounced checks are the latest in a series of payroll problems at the hospital since American Healthcare Systems, a California-based private equity group, purchased it in July 2023.
Employees were not paid on time in both March and April, which the hospital attributed to delays in payroll funding.
Precision Practice Management, a staffing company that handled patient registration, scheduling, insurance verification and billing for Vista, ended its contracts with the hospital effective June 30 after it was not paid for its services. The company laid off 34 employees who had worked at the hospital as a result.
Vista Health System appointed Daisy Rodriguez as its fifth CEO in three years in August after Kim Needham resigned from the position effective August 7.
ComEd sued the hospital for a second time on August 28, seeking over $1.4 million in unpaid electric bills. A judge entered a default judgment against the hospital in July for more than $822,000 in the utility company’s first lawsuit after the hospital stopped paying on a settlement and never appeared in court.
The hospital’s most recent ComEd bill showed a total balance of more than $2.27 million.
American Healthcare Systems has also not paid the hospital’s property taxes for 2023 or 2024 and owes more than $2 million for those two years with interest and fees.
FNA DZ LLC, which purchased the hospital’s 2023 delinquent taxes, filed a petition for tax deed in January to begin foreclosure proceedings against the hospital. A hearing in the case was continued until next month where a ruling is expected.
Waukegan Mayor Sam Cunningham said in August that he was “deeply disappointed” by the ongoing failures at the hospital, calling its decline “a direct result of the corporate failure of American Healthcare Systems.”