The AG office’s decision was reportedly detailed in letters sent to Pittsfield, Mass.-based Berkshire Health Systems, which owned the 129-year-old hospital, and a representative of the citizen-led North County Cares Coalition. Members of the coalition previously reached out to state officials to investigate the hospital’s closure. NARH represented the only full-service hospital in area, the report states.
“While the closing of NARH was abrupt, deeply disruptive to the community and did not comply with the notice requirements laid out in state law, the evidence reflects the board’s sincere effort to keep the hospital open,” wrote Mary A. Beckman, chief of the AG office’s healthcare and fair competition bureau.
A spokesperson for the AG’s office told The Berkshire Eagle the decision also acknowledged trustees did not violate their fiduciary duty to the organization or benefit personally from the hospital’s closing. However, the individual said the office “disagrees with the [former leaders’] failure to provide the 90-day notice required by state law,” the report states.
Officials reportedly notified the public and the hospital’s 530 employees of the impending closure March 25, 2014 — three days before the facility was permanently closed, according to the report.
Under state law, a hospital must provide notice of its impending closure three months prior to its closing. Separate federal labor laws dictate additional requirements for advanced notice based on the size of a workplace.
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