The challenges continue for Izard County’s only hospital, with a bankruptcy filing indicating the medical center may be put on the market.Arkansas Business is reporting the Chapter 11 trustee for Izard County Medical Center (ICMC) LLC is “exploring a sale” of the 25-bed hospital in Calico Rock, citing a bankruptcy filing last month.Carol L. Fox, the trustee for ICMC and its parent company, Americore Holdings LLC of St. Louis, wants to block the hospital’s landlord, Calico Rock Med LLC, from canceling its lease, according to her March 24 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
If the lease is canceled, “the Trustee will not be able to sell Izard Hospital as a going-concern, which will have a tremendous negative impact” on the hospital’s assets, attorney Tiffany Payne Geyer of Orlando, Florida, who is representing Fox, wrote in her filing.
Calico Rock Med said in November ICMC owed $329,000 for rent payments and filed a lawsuit in Izard County Circuit Court to terminate the lease or appoint a receiver for the hospital. But that lawsuit was put on hold when ICMC and Americore filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on Dec. 31, with ICMC listing $2 million in assets and $3.7 million in debts. Since the filing of the bankruptcy, ICMC hasn’t paid rent and owes an additional $141,000, Calico Rock Med said in its March filing.
Calico Rock Med has asked the judge for permission to move forward with its lawsuit.
“Even after the appointment of Ms. Fox as Trustee, the mismanagement continues to the detriment of Calico Rock,” Calico Rock Med said in its filing. Geyer did not return Arkansas Business’ call for comment.
A hearing on whether Calico Rock Med could move forward with its lawsuit was set for last Thursday.
After filing for bankruptcy in late December, the CEO of Americore Holdings LLC whose operations cover four hospitals, including the Izard County Medical Center in Calico Rock, was removed in February by a federal bankruptcy judge while a trustee oversees the company.
According to a report from the Times in Beaver, Pennsylvania, the judge’s order removed Grant White as CEO of Americore Holdings LLC.
The action followed an earlier report by the Associated Press citing the St. Louis Post-Dispatch saying a court filing by the U.S. Trustee’s office accuses White of mismanagement and says he “has not operated the hospitals in a manner that is consistent with public safety and welfare.”
In an earlier development, the St. Louis paper reported court documents say one of Americore’s hospitals, Ellwood City Medical Center in Pennsylvania, was raided by the FBI on Jan. 30, and White’s home was raided the day before.
The company operates a hospital in St. Louis as well as the Izard County Medical Center in Calico Rock and others in Pennsylvania and Kentucky. Americore’s parent company is based in Florida.
The Izard County Medical Center was established in 1952 and was acquired by Americore in 2017. The hospital has an emergency room open 24/7, and it is a critical access medical center. Critical Access Hospital is a designation given to eligible rural hospitals by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The designation is designed to reduce the financial vulnerability of rural hospitals and improve access to healthcare by keeping essential services in rural communities.
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