By Mark Cowling | Casa Grande Dispatch
Florence Hospital at Anthem and Gilbert Hospital could emerge from bankruptcy together under new joint ownership this week, according to an attorney involved in the Chapter 11 proceedings.
The hospitals are close to having the final issues in their Chapter 11 plan resolved, enabling them to declare their “effective date,” which “in common parlance, (is) what people call emerging from bankruptcy,” Daniel E. Garrison, the lead bankruptcy attorney for Gilbert Hospital, said Nov. 19. “We think that’s going to happen very shortly here, maybe as little as a week away.”
Florence Hospital has been in bankruptcy protection for more than two years, and Gilbert Hospital sought it last year.
The two hospitals have some common ancestry. Both were founded by Dr. Tim Johns. Also, Gilbert Hospital made an $11 million loan to open the Florence hospital.
