Will HCHD Finally Receive Money from Timberlands?

City Thanked for Driveway Repairs

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY – They left like a thief in the night. During June of 2017, following months of reporting everything was going fine, Timberlands Healthcare, aka Little River Healthcare, aka Blackhawk, informed hospital employees they were pulling out of Crockett at the end of June. The notification was provided a little more than a week before they left.

As a result, the hospital was padlocked and the Houston County Hospital District (HCHD) was left holding a bag full of Timberlands’ debt.

During that last week of June 2017, Little River Healthcare Chief Legal Ryan Downton explained the determining factor in the LRH decision was the struggle the company was having with collecting the money owed on insurance claims submitted to Blue Cross and Blue Shield.

“This is for the whole Little River Healthcare System. We have been in a situation where Blue Cross – for the last year or so – has not been paying us according to our contract. They have been delaying payment of claims and requesting medical records. Right now, there is $32 million in accounts receivable that’s more than two months old that they haven’t paid,” Downton said.

Shortly afterwards, Little River filed for bankruptcy.

Following a year of being shuttered, the hospital rose from the ashes like the proverbial Phoenix to re-establish itself as Crockett Medical Center (CMC). Unfortunately, the HCHD was still saddled with the bills racked up by Timberlands.

It now appears, however, as if a few rays of sunshine may have penetrated this bleak period in the history of the hospital district.

During the regular regularly scheduled meeting of the HCHD – held on Tuesday, May 19 – HCHD Board President Barbara Crowson reported the board might be able to recoup some of the money owed to it by Timberlands.

“Yesterday,” she began, “in a conversation with Robert Spurck – our attorney in Austin – he told me the bankruptcy court awarded from Blue Cross to Little River, a substantial award. He indicated it was somewhat of a surprise in the legal community.”

Crowson added, “According to Mr. Spurck, the hospital board at the time of the bankruptcy did a very smart thing in joining that bankruptcy case. At this time, we have reason to be cautiously optimistic that we may in fact receive some funds from that case. I expect to hear from Peter Ruggero – the attorney with whom we have dealt – in the near future. When I know more, I will keep you all posted as a matter of information. The amount that we asked for in that suit was just shy of $690,000. What portion we may get – if any – is a wait and see proposition. For now, we do have hope and I am overjoyed about that.”

Board Secretary Pat Dickey furthered, “That’s just incredible news. I couldn’t help but thinking while you were talking about the efforts of two of our former board members, Dr. Bob Grier and Deborah Blackwell. Without their efforts, we would have no possibility of our board benefitting from this news. I just want to say a sincere thank you to those two people.”

Prior to the Timberlands bankruptcy award discussion, the board president took time to formally thank the city of Crockett for resurfacing/repairing the ambulance driveway.

“On behalf of the board, I have drafted a letter to the Honorable Dr. Ianthia Fisher, the mayor of Crockett, and the City Manager John Angerstein, formally thanking them for getting our ambulance driveway on the hospital campus paved. They went above and beyond anything we had the right to expect,” Crowson said.

“We furnished the materials,” she continued, “but they made it happen. I wanted to make a formal public announcement about that, in addition to the letter. I know that all of our board members join me in our sincere gratitude to those two people and those who worked with them.”

In other matters brought before the HCHD: