A Texas company that operates a long-term skilled nursing unit at Allegheny Valley Hospital in Harrison has filed for bankruptcy, but officials with the hospital’s parent company are unsure how it will affect operations there.
New LifeCare Hospitals LLC of Plano, Texas, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday. The company, which operates 17 facilities in nine states, said in a bankruptcy filing that it owes between $100 million and $500 million to more than 25,000 creditors.
That includes nearly $300,000 owed to West Penn Allegheny Health System, the former parent of Allegheny Valley Hospital.
“We are unaware at this time of any impending changes to LifeCare’s operations in (Harrison),” said Dan Laurent, spokesman for Allegheny Health Network, the parent company of Allegheny Valley Hospital.
“The company operates independently and has no affiliation with AHN,” Laurent said. “We will defer to LifeCare with regard to its bankruptcy filing and impact on its programs around the country, including the recent decision to close its Bellevue operations.”
A LifeCare Hospitals long-term skilled nursing unit at Allegheny Health Network’s Suburban General campus in Bellevue already has closed.
In addition to its operations at Allegheny Valley and formerly at Suburban General, LifeCare Behavioral Health Hospital opened in Wilkinsburg in 2017 for court-ordered commitments of people with depression, schizophrenia and other mental illnesses.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a correction reflecting that Allegheny Health Network’s Suburban General campus in Bellevue already has closed.
