Fulton Medical Center, owned by Leawood, Kan.-based NueHealth, was facing closure in September 2017. One week before the hospital was slated to shut down, Kansas City, Mo.-based EmpowerHMS entered into an agreement with NueHealth to manage the hospital.
That agreement came to an end earlier this year, when EmpowerHMS ran into significant financial challenges and was ousted as the operator of Fulton Medical Center.
After EmpowerHMS was dismissed, Fulton Medical Center CEO Mike Reece put a plan in place to buy the hospital from NueHealth. The sale is pending as Mr. Reece continues to negotiate for a loan to purchase the facility.
“We’ve got that loan lined up, but they won’t give it to us until the IRS debt is cleaned up,” he said during a Fulton Rotary Club meeting on Oct. 9, according to the Fulton Sun.
Mr. Reece said he expects NueHealth to replace him as CEO within the next 90 days and either sell the hospital to a different management company or shut it down. However, he’s still trying to figure out a way to purchase the hospital.
“If we can get the funding to pay the IRS debt, I think we can get leverage to take control of the hospital,” he said Oct. 9, according to the report.
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