In the last two weeks, a seven-hospital health system with facilities in California, Texas and Illinois, and a 90-bed acute care hospital in Pennsylvania have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy:
1. El Segundo, Calif.-based Pipeline Health System said it entered bankruptcy after rising costs and delayed payments from insurance plans compounded its financial challenges. The health system aims to complete the sale of two Illinois hospitals — Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, Ill. — to Resilience Healthcare, and will try to find a new buyer if the deal collapses.
"We intend for the restructuring process to allow our hospitals to remain open and operating in their communities, while putting the hospital system in a more secure and sustainable financial position going forward," Pipeline CEO Andrei Soran said in an Oct. 3 news release.
2. Berwick (Pa.) Hospital Center entered bankruptcy after being plagued by staffing and financial challenges. Berwick Hospital Company, which does business as Berwick Hospital Center, filed for bankruptcy protection Sept. 30. The move came less than two weeks after the abrupt closure of the hospital's emergency department due to lack of staffing. Its affiliated clinics closed in July.
Priyam Sharma, owner of the 90-bed acute care hospital, plans to close and transition the facility to a freestanding psychiatric center. The state granted Berwick Hospital Center a license to operate as a 14-bed psychiatric facility, according to WNEP.