Borrego Community Health Foundation, a federally funded nonprofit health care provider that declared bankruptcy earlier this year amid an ongoing criminal fraud investigation, has been approved to sell off its assets to the highest bidders, the San Diego Tribune reported. The auction of millions of dollars worth of real estate, medical equipment and other property is scheduled for late next month under a ruling from a federal bankruptcy court judge. Officials at the nonprofit known as Borrego Health said the sale is the best way to protect the thousands of low-income and rural patients across San Diego and Riverside counties who rely on it for medical care. “The exploration of a sale is good for everyone who cares about the availability and quality of healthcare in rural Southern California,” spokesperson Daniel Kramer said. The organization acknowledges that under prior leadership it abused the Medi-Cal reimbursement program, and it has sued a slew of former board members, executives and vendors to try and recover millions of dollars in what it says were misspent funds. “The only way to ensure the continuity of care to Borrego Health’s patients is to transfer the clinics to a more financially stable operator,” Kramer said. But the sale is being opposed by regulators, who told the court they are worried that property paid for by U.S. taxpayers will be included in the property set to be sold to the highest bidder. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services “contends that the government, not the bankruptcy estate, owns the (Health Resources and Services Administration) funds, personal property purchased with HRSA funds, and (federal relief) funds,” the government wrote in a recent bankruptcy court filing.
