SHARON, Pa. – With the settlement agreement filed in Mercer County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday, the final piece is presumably in place for the reopening of Sharon Regional Medical Center by Tenor Health Partners and its nonprofit entity, Tenor Health Foundation.
The hospital’s website has been taken down, and a message says a new website will be coming soon. It was still maintained by Steward Health Care System as of Tuesday.
“MPT has always recognized Sharon Hospital’s importance to the community, and we are pleased to have reached an agreement with all key stakeholders to facilitate its reopening,” an MPT spokesperson said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate the collaborative efforts of Tenor Health, the commonwealth, Judge [Marvin] Isgur, and the bankruptcy court in this process and we look forward to seeing operations successfully resume in the coming days.”
Isgur is a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge facilitating mediation between many of the parties throughout Steward’s bankruptcy process.
In a statement Wednesday, the Pennsylvania attorney general’s office said, “We remain focused on the reopening of the hospital, and feel all involved share that goal.”
The commonwealth agreed to drop its request to redress violations regarding the February 2014 sale of the hospital. The agreement releases any claim the commonwealth may have relating to the conveyance of the Sharon hospital between Community Health Systems, Steward, MPT and the lease agreement with Steward.
The agreement states MPT has entered into a lease agreement for the hospital property, which includes a purchase option, with Tenor Health Foundation Sharon LLC. And MPT will provide financing to support the continued operation of the hospital.
The document states the sale is expected to close no later than this week. In another court document filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Tuesday, Steward claimed it could be completed by Wednesday.
It was previously reported that the sales agreement in U.S. Bankruptcy Court was for Tenor to pay $1.9 million for the hospital. MPT had reportedly put $10 million into Tenor’s coffers for operations, while local municipalities and foundations had kicked in another $10 million. Rahda Savitalia, founder and CEO of Tenor, said earlier this week Tenor had $25 million total after it had secured another $5 million.
The commonwealth claims the terms of the agreement are “in the best interest of the public at large, and that the public interest will be best served by the parties entering this agreement.” It also said the compromise is intended to avoid burden and expensive litigation.
Additionally, the parties agreed not to disparage each other.
The case will be discontinued with prejudice, so it cannot be refiled.
In the agreement, which was reportedly signed late Tuesday by Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Tedd Nesbit, there is no mention of the Christian H. Buhl Legacy Trust.
Buhl, which founded the Sharon hospital and sold it to Community Health Systems in 2014, also has challenged the ownership of the building and contended it is owed $25 million for maintenance and investments that were not made by MPT.
Lawyers representing Buhl could not be reached to comment Wednesday morning.