Thirty-three nursing homes affiliated with Preferred Care Group, one of the largest U.S. nursing home chains, filed for chapter 11 protection due to multi-million dollar personal injury lawsuits in Kentucky and New Mexico, according to court filings, Reuters reported. Preferred Care Group is owned by Thomas Scott of Plano, Texas, according to the court filings. Scott also owns another company, Preferred Care Inc., which is the master lessee of some of the facilities and also filed for bankruptcy on Monday. The operators of the nursing homes said in a statement issued by Preferred Care Inc. that the bankruptcy filings will allow them to stay in business, pay employees and vendors and care for 2,900 residents while seeking to restructure. Preferred Care blamed the bankruptcies on 163 personal injury cases the company is defending, most of which have been lodged by the Wilkes & McHugh law firm of Tampa, Fla., according to court records. In its filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Northern District of Texas, a $28 million judgment in favor of the family of a man who was injured in one of its nursing facilities in Kentucky was listed as its largest claimant. Read more.
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