Dallas-based Steward Health Care has filed a closure notice for its Sharon (Pa.) Regional Medical Center after Meadville (Pa.) Medical Center withdrew its proposed transaction of the hospital.
The Dec. 16 notice, obtained by Becker's, proposed a Jan. 6 closure date for the 163-bed hospital.
Meadville withdrew its purchase proposal after "determining that adequate funding to financially stabilize the hospital for the long-term was unable to be secured," according to a Dec. 1 news release shared with Becker's.
On Dec. 1, Pennsylvania filed an emergency motion after Steward, which sought Chapter 11 protection May 6 and has worked to offload the remainder of its 31 hospitals, requested $3 million per month or it would start closing the hospital. Sharon Regional has more than 750 employees and generates around $115 million in economic activity for the area it serves, the state's motion said.
The state has provided the hospital $4.5 million since September to keep operations running as it searched for a new operator.
"We are disappointed that, despite best efforts from our office and the governor's office, an immediate solution was not attainable," Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry said in a Dec. 16 statement shared with Becker's. "[W]e worked around the clock with the parties involved to try to salvage a financial arrangement that keeps Sharon Hospital's doors open and staff employed at their respective locations."
The planned closure comes after Steward closed both its Ayer, Mass.-based Nashoba Valley Medical Center and Boston-based Carney Hospital on Aug. 31. It also received bankruptcy court approval Nov. 5 to close its nonoperational hospital, Norwood Hospital, and four satellite facilities.
Ms. Henry said the state expects to further discuss its civil complaint on Dec. 19 in court.
Becker's has reached out to Steward for comment and will update this story should more information become available.