A preliminary agreement has been reached to resolve a dispute over Dardanelle Community Hospital, attorneys said Monday in jointly asking a federal judge to table a March 4 motion to appoint a receiver to take over the facility's operation.
"The parties have reached a preliminary agreement to resolve their dispute without further need of court intervention and respectfully ask that [the emergency motion] be stayed and held in abeyance," according to a filing by attorneys for both the board that oversees the hospital and the hospital's operator, Allegiance Health Management of Shreveport, La.
"The parties shall notify the court if the dispute is fully and finally resolved or the dispute is not fully and finally resolved," the filing said, asking a nonjury trial remain scheduled to begin July 31 in case it's still necessary at that time.
U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr. responded by granting the request and canceling a hearing he scheduled for Friday. He said the request for a receiver is denied for now but will be reinstated later if necessary. He left intact the July 31 trial date.
In requesting the receiver, the Yell County board of governors, which oversees the hospital, said the hospital, which does business as River Valley Medical Center, is in "an operational and financial crisis -- one that is putting hospital patients at risk."
The motion by the six-member board, which is appointed by the Yell County Quorum Court, said the hospital's laboratory was no longer "functioning as required by state law and is adversely affecting patient care." It also said the hospital's blood supplier was about to shut off blood supplies because it hadn't been paid in over 120 days and that vendors were repossessing lifesaving equipment, including a ventilator.
The 25,000-square-foot hospital has about 35 beds and is the only hospital in northern Yell County, though there are hospitals 5 miles away in Russellville and 20 miles away in Danville.
In a lawsuit filed Dec. 7 against Allegiance and the hospital, the board said the hospital was $90,000 behind in lease payments -- something an attorney for Allegiance disputed on Dec. 28.
On March 6, Marshall set the hearing that was to be held Friday in his Little Rock courtroom, to consider the motion for a receiver, saying each side would have two hours to present their case.
Information for this report was proved by Bill Bowden of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
NW News on 03/20/2019