A hearing that could take Interfaith Medical Center out of bankruptcy was pushed back one week, hospital officials confirmed on Tuesday, DNAinfo New York reported yesterday. The hearing, which was set for 2:30 p.m. today, was postponed until May 30 "to provide time to finish documenting settlements and to provide a last opportunity to settle with a few remaining objectors," a hospital spokeswoman said. The decision comes amid reports that the hospital, located in New York’s Bedford/Stuyvesant area, lost patients and staff throughout the bankruptcy process, although hospital officials said that they remain confident in the hospital's growth despite the setbacks. "We are rebuilding, we are hiring, we are reevaluating," said Melanie Cyganowski, the hospital's newly-appointed chief restructuring officer and a former bankruptcy judge. The hospital is also anticipating its bankruptcy exit in order to start applying for a portion of the state's Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment — or DSRIP — funds, an $8 billion waiver approved by the federal government in February. Interfaith's money troubles began in 2010 when New York state lowered Medicaid reimbursements, leading to a December 2012 bankruptcy filing.
