A healthcare provider with multiple locations in the Coachella Valley, including Palm Springs, announced Monday it will seek Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The news: Borrego Community Health Foundation, which operates a clinic at 1100 North Palm Canyon Drive and has provided mobile services in the Desert Highland Gateway Estates neighborhood, said in a news release the move comes in response to a notice in August from the state Department of Health Care Services that it intends to halt payments for Medi-Cal services beginning Sept. 29.
- The Chapter 11 process allows Borrego Health to reorganize and restructure finances. In a statement, the organization said it hopes that by initiating the process it can stop the state from halting its payments.
Background: Borrego Health has been the subject of both state and federal investigations alleging millions of dollars in improper billing, excessive salaries, and other financial misdeeds. It has removed several top executives and sued them while also slashing its budget and laying off employees.
- In August, in announcing the late September payment cutoff, state officials maintained the nonprofit failed to meet conditions under a 2021 settlement that allowed Medi-Cal payments to resume.
What next: Rose MacIsaac, Borrego Health CEO, said services in Palm Springs and elsewhere the healthcare provider operates will continue uninterrupted while the issue goes through the courts.
- “Our mission to provide high-quality local access to those most in need drives us forward,” a statement from MacIsaac read, “and this filing with the Court will allow us to continue to provide care as we do today while we secure the future of healthcare for our patients.”
