Updated 1:30 p.m. Sept. 24
Forest Park Medical Center in Frisco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Tuesday after months of experiencing financial issues.
A bankruptcy court judge on Wednesday approved interim financing for the hospital to continue operations and gave interim approval for the hospital to move forward with restructuring plans. Forest Park has hired Michael Miller of Delloite Corporate Restructuring Group as its chief restructuring officer.
Sabra Health Care REIT Inc., the landlord for the hospital, also announced Wednesday that it had sent a notice to Forest Park saying the hospital may default on its lease because of unpaid rent.
Sabra reduced Forest Park's monthly rent payments in July and allowed deferred rent payment to be paid off over time, according to Sabra's quarterly earnings report in August. However, Sabra states the amended lease agreement is no longer effective because Forest Park could not obtain the required financing required under the amended lease.
A statement from Forest Park says the bankruptcy filing will not affect any of the other hospitals in the Forest Park system.
"The Board of Forest Park Medical Center Frisco LLC has made the strategic decision to reorganize the business under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code," the statement says. "This is the same process implemented by many other major Dallas based companies, most notably American Airlines, and Forest Park Frisco aims to achieve a similar level of restructuring success. Under Chapter 11, the hospital will continue to operate while developing a plan to restructure its finances and operations...
"Forest Park Frisco is choosing to make a voluntary effort to restructure in order to transition to a healthy business foundation after facing a number of challenges since opening in 2012," the statement continues. "These challenges, from unprecedented change in the healthcare market to other external factors, made it clear that action had to be taken and Forest Park Frisco has chosen the proactive approach to return the business to a healthy, viable state."
According to court documents, the bankruptcy filing would allow Forest Park to assess whether reorganizing business operations or selling the hospital's assets would be the best course of action.
In August, Sabra reported that Forest Park became unable to pay its rent in January.
Many of the financial issues stem from Texas Capital Bank not renewing a loan to Forest Park and from the hospital changing its operations from an out-of-network model to an in-network model with insurance providers, resulting in reduced reimbursement rates. Forest Park is also in debt to TCB for equipment financing.
In total, Forest Park owes TCB about $6 million.
Court documents detail that Forest Park's monthly revenue totals about $3.4 million, but its monthly operational expenses total more than $4 million.
In a statement, Sabra CEO and Chairman Rick Matros said he expects the end result to be either Sabra selling the hospital's real estate or creating a lease with a viable management company.