The public trust that operates Atoka (Okla.) County Medical Center filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy Tuesday.
The critical access hospital is about $16 million in debt. To shore up its finances, the hospital began exploring filing for bankruptcy in December, and the hospital's board voted Jan. 3 to file the bankruptcy case.
In its bankruptcy petition, ACMC certified it has no more than $50,000 in assets. The hospital said in its filing that it has at least 100 creditors.
Traci Walker, CEO of ACMC, discussed the hospital's financial challenges with KXII news in December. "The position we are in with our creditors and many of our vendors, we owe so much money, my fear is that they may garnish our account and we won't be able to make payroll," she said.
In a statement to NewsOK this week, Ms. Walker said the bankruptcy case gives the hospital some breathing room to put a plan for long-term financial stability into place. "This gives us time to review and vet management proposals and other options going forward," she said.
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