Two weeks after acquiring three former Tenet Healthcare hospitals, Pipeline Health has plans to shutter Westlake Hospital in Melrose Park.
— Read on www.chicagobusiness.com/health-care/new-owner-shutter-westlake-hospital

Just two weeks after acquiring three former Tenet Healthcare hospitals, Pipeline Health has plans to shutter one of them.

The impending closure of Westlake Hospital was announced late Friday by the village of Melrose Park. Dr. Eric Whitaker, vice chair and principal of Los Angeles-based Pipeline, called Mayor Ron Serpico and two state representatives late Friday to share the news, Melrose Park spokesman Andrew Mack said.

Mack did not provide details shared during the conversations with Serpico and Democratic State Reps. Kathleen Willis of Northlake and Emanuel Chris Welch of Westchester, who is also a member of the hospital’s Board of Trustees. Pipeline wasn’t immediately available for comment.

On Feb. 5, when asked what initially drew him to Pipeline, Whitaker told Crain’s: “They really believed in putting community first. They believe in quality care. They believe in being the lowest cost provider. And so all of these things I think are important in hospitals because I think there are one-off community hospitals in danger all over this country.”