Hayti, Mo.-based Pemiscot Memorial Health Systems is facing a lawsuit from a former CEO and another from a company that provided pain management services to its patients.
Rural Spine Solutions filed the lawsuit in June, claiming Pemiscot Memorial owes more than $1 million for services it provided.
Here are nine things to know about the lawsuits.
1. The system allegedly failed to pay Rural Spine the full amount due in October 2023 and did not pay the company at all by the end of February 2024, according to the petition filed June 3.
2. Pemiscot Memorial paid less than 30% of what it owed to Rural Spine in April. The system did not respond when the company offered to accept less than what was owed if paid by June 1, according to court documents.
3. Rural Spine claimed Pemiscot Memorial breached its contract by failing to schedule patients for its services and refusing to make payments due, despite collecting millions for the services it had provided, according to the petition.
4. The system also agreed to pay Rural Spine $1,500 per month for "physician supervision of certain hospital staff," but has allegedly not paid the company anything for that service despite it being provided to the hospital, according to the lawsuit. The system includes Pemiscot County Memorial Hospital and its affiliated clinics.
5. "As we took care of patients in Hayti, the hospital billed for our services and collected millions in revenue, then refused to pay us what we were owed," Ajay Suman, MD, owner of Rural Spine, said in a statement shared with Becker's. "During the months of trying to figure out a solution with the hospital, my team and I remained committed to providing essential healthcare services to the community … We could only survive so long without receiving any payment."
6. The system's former CEO Joanie White-Wagoner filed a separate lawsuit against the system on Sept. 14, alleging she was wrongfully terminated.
7. Ms. White-Wagoner was hired in September 2023 and dismissed about four months later. In the complaint, she claimed she learned of and reported potential violations by the hospital to state and federal agencies, which contributed to her termination. She was also allegedly terminated without written notice, as required by her employment agreement, the complaint said.
8. The reports that Ms. White-Wagoner made to state and federal agencies included issues regarding potential misuse of grant funds, wage and hour regulation violations, and Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement compliance, according to the complaint.
9. The system declined to comment. This story will be updated if more information becomes available.