The city of Prague, Okla., took the owners of Prague Community Hospital to court this week to gain control of the facility, which has consistently paid employees late and relied on donations for food and supplies, according to CBS affiliate News 9.
On Feb. 15 the state of Oklahoma granted a license to a hospital trust set up by the city, but the hospital's current owners still have the facility's Medicare license number. It is the Medicare number that was the sticking point of court proceedings Feb. 19, when both parties agreed the hospital owners would continue operating the facility for now, but only if employees were paid and funding for supplies were provided.
"That’s part of the restraining order: They have to keep operating like a normal hospital, and we anticipate that starting tomorrow," said Cliff Bryant, mayor of Prague.
Shelly Dyer, the hospital's CEO, told Becker's Hospital Review that at the time of publication employees had still not received the paycheck they should have gotten last week.
"It makes me sad that people care more about corporate America than what’s going on in the lives of small-town Oklahoma," said Mary Ann Ward, a physician assistant at the hospital.