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Light at the end of the tunnel for Bucktail Medical

Officials to hear Thursday about leaving bankruptcy

SOUTH RENOVO — Bucktail Medical Center may soon get that fresh start it has been working toward since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in October 2015.

Final approval of its reorganization plan and disclosure statement should come Thursday.

The medical center should then be able to exit Chapter 11, although the official date to do so has yet to be established, according to BMC Lead Administrator Timothy Reeves.

BMC is considered a “critical access hospital,” one of only 15 in Pennsylvania. It serves a region more than 30 miles from any hospital or other medical center.

It also employs about 100 people.

Chapter 11 has given BMC a chance to restructure its finances so it can pay its creditors. The plan includes refinancing the medical center’s long-term debt.

BMC’s operating budget is $6 million. Nearly 80 percent is funded by Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements. The center reportedly has a Medicare/Medicaid patient volume of 39 percent, the highest percentage in the state.

Part of the Chapter 11 process was to negotiate with key vendors. Those negotiations are now complete.

Creditors had the chance to vote on the center’s plan until Aug. 21. Reeves said all the votes cast were “Yes” votes, except for two. The one exception was from a creditor who included the condition of being paid as negotiated, and this was counted as a “Yes” vote, Reeves said. The other was a “No” vote from an individual. BMC objected to this claim, and the creditor had to follow a specified procedure to cast a vote. However, that procedure was not followed and the vote was not counted, Reeves said.

A confirmation hearing was held Sept. 7, when the reorganization plan and disclosure statement were approved as filed, Reeves reported. The final approval should come five days from now.

The medical center can be proud of how it has operated during this two-year Chapter 11 period, Reeves said. Points of pride include:

r No one was laid off and no jobs were lost as part of the process.

r Employees were not asked to make any concessions.

r BMC was able to operate and also pay bankruptcy expenses without having to borrow any more money.

r Only one vendor stopped working with the medical center.

r All vendors are being paid on established terms, and the payments are current.

Reeves credited the employees, the center’s board members, local businesses, and the entire community with these successes as the medical center turns its fiscal problems around.

“We look forward to serving the residents of western Clinton County for years to come,” he said.

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