Two shuttered rural hospitals in Virginia have been acquired, but there is no guarantee either facility will reopen, according to The Roanoke Times.
Lee Regional Medical Center in Pennington Gap, Va., was shut down in 2013 by its former owner, Kingsport, Tenn.-based Wellmont Health System. The Lee County (Va.) Hospital Authority purchased the facility in 2015. On Tuesday, the hospital authority sold the facility for $2 million to Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Americore Health, which specializes in managing rural hospitals.
Under the deal, Americore will pay the hospital authority $500,000 at closing and begin paying off the balance in the hospital's third year of operation. The company is also responsible for staffing the hospital and navigating the licensing process. Americore is expected to seek state approval to reopen the hospital in the coming months, according to the report.
In a separate transaction this week, Virginia Community Capital acquired Pioneer Community Hospital of Patrick in Stuart, Va., for $5.7 million at a foreclosure auction. The bank had loaned the hospital's parent company, Magee, Miss.-based Pioneer Health Services, $6.7 million to renovate the facility before PHS filed for bankruptcy in 2016. Pioneer Community Hospital of Patrick closed in October.
"We still hope for a solution that will maintain the building for healthcare use, but we are open to talking to any business entity that is interested and can bring jobs to the community and enhance the region's quality of life," Wayne Waldrop, president of lending and community impact at VCC, told The Roanoke Times.
Pioneer Community Hospital of Patrick's operating license expires at the end of 2017.
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