Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Centers of New York, a nonprofit health-care provider that runs the historic St. Vincent's Hospital in Manhattan and other metro area facilities, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 14.
Saint Vincent's said it was pushed into bankruptcy by cash shortfalls due to fewer patients, a greater number of uninsured and Medicare patients, and lower reimbursement rates from insurance companies.
The debtor's board of directors voted last week to close the 160-year-old St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan inpatient services.
“The decision to close St. Vincent's Hospital Manhattan inpatient services was made only after the board, management and our advisors exhausted every possible alternative," Alfred Smith, chairman of Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, said in a press release. “We are deeply saddened that we were unable to come up with a viable plan to save the inpatient services at the hospital that has proudly served Manhattan's West Side and Downtown for 160 years.”
In its bankruptcy filing, the nonprofit organization listed more then $1 billion in liabilities and $100 million to $500 million in assets.
GE Capital and TD Bank will provide a DIP financing facility of $78 million, according to court documents. GE and TD have secured claims of $313 million.
The debtor has $408 million of secured indebtedness, according to court documents. The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York holds $30 million of that debt, while Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. holds $5 million, and Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada holds about $60 million worth of secured debt.
Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. has a claim of $180 million in secured and unsecured debt, and is being represented by Joel Rudman and Brad Rodgers. Three medical malpractice trusts have claims of approximately $113 million, according to court documents.
Saint Vincents, whose Greenwich Village hospital predates the Civil War, and its affiliates first filed for bankruptcy in July 2005. The hospital emerged from Chapter 11 in 2007 with more than $1 billion in liabilities. The debtors had operating losses of $43 million in 2008 and last year it lost $64 million, according to court filings.
Kenneth Eckstein, Adam Rogoff and Bradley O’Neill of Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP are serving as bankruptcy counsel for the debtor.
The case, No. 10-11963-CGM in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, is being overseen by Judge Cecelia Morris.
