Tuesday, March 5th 2019, 6:19 pm
The City of Prague was in federal court again Tuesday to try and force the current ownership group to turn over operations of the hospital.
A judge ruled a third party would be allowed to come in and take over operations of the hospital temporarily while a plethora of legal issues are worked through.
Read Related Story: Attorney Reach Temporary Agreement To Keep Prague Hospital Open
For the past three months, the Prague Hospital has been on life support, and non-life threatening patients have been sent to other hospitals to save dwindling supplies for walk-in emergencies.
But now, a federal judge has allowed the management group Cohesive to take over. Mayor Cliff Bryant says that should stabilize the facility.
“We had our first patient admitted and kept yesterday so we’re actually a real hospital,” said mayor Cliff Bryant.
See Related Story: Prague Mayor Says Fight For City Hospital Is Personal
The judge's order comes after the hospital's ownership group, CAH Acquisition Company 7, didn't do anything they were ordered to during the last court hearing, including paying employees who haven't seen a paycheck in a month.
See Also: City Of Prague Chooses new Management Company For Hospital
“They didn’t pay anybody, they didn’t send anyone any emails, they didn’t buy any supplies, they didn’t do anything except just leave everybody hanging,” said the mayor.
Prague's attorneys argued they were in contempt of court.
CAH7 said their accounts are frozen.
The mayor says CAH7 owns them $70,000 just on past rent alone and wants the judge to make them to pay up.
In the meantime, Mayor Bryant says the City and Cohesive will provide a financial infusion to revive the hospital, and employees will hopefully be paid this week.
“It’s just kind of exciting to save something that some people said couldn’t be saved,” he said.
A judge is expected to rule on the contempt of court this week.
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