Three Mississippi hospitals, their physician practices and a Tennessee parent company are filing for bankruptcy, citing more than $70 million in debts, the Associated Press reported. Health of Knoxville, Tenn., filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday. Curae, a nonprofit company, owns Gilmore Memorial Hospital in Amory and Panola Medical Center in Batesville, while it leases Northwest Mississippi Regional Medical Center in Clarksdale. Curae’s Russellville Hospital in northwest Alabama is not seeking bankruptcy. The company plans to keep operating the Mississippi hospitals until it can sell them, CEO Stephen Clapp said in court papers. The company has 1,245 employees, who will continue to be paid during the bankruptcy proceedings, Clapp said. Clapp added that past revenue and profits were high enough when bought the hospitals in 2017 to pay off the money the company borrowed. But he said that revenue declined and the hospitals faced higher-than-expected costs for electronic health records. He said that the company saw a cash crunch, with vendors demanding payment for lagging bills, which sparked the bankruptcy filing. Read more.
Don't miss the "Stayin’ Alive . . . Debt Restructuring for Critical Access Hospitals" abiLIVE webinar on May 1 sponsored by the ABI Health Care Committee. Register for FREE.
For more on hospital and health care insolvencies, be sure to pick up a copy of the ABI Health Care Insolvency Manual, Third Edition from the ABI Bookstore.
