Bankruptcy judge set to rule on EPCH-UMC joint plan
EDITOR’S NOTE: ABC-7 has learned that all new board members will be sworn in Jan. 8, when the old El Paso Children’s board will hand over the reigns.
We’re coming up on a critical moment in the El Paso Children’s Hospital bankruptcy case, with the federal bankruptcy judge set to rule on a plan that could finally settle it.
Tuesday will be the make-or-break moment for the long debated bankruptcy plan for EPCH as Federal Bankruptcy Judge H. Christopher Mott will rule on allowing it to take Children’s out of bankruptcy or not.
“It’s a consensual plan, so the debtor EPCH is agreeing to the joint plan,” County Judge Veronica Escobar said. “It’s not a takeover, it’s not liquidation, it’s a consensual plan.”
Escobar has high hopes, and some parts are already in place. Unversity Medical Center will select four of the seven Children’s board members if the plan is approved. UMC has already selected it’s four out of a pool of 19 finalists: Ted Houghton, the former chair of the Texas Transportation Commission; current member of the UMC board of managers Miguel Fernandez, who will serve on both boards; El Paso businessman and former UMC board member Ronald Acton; and El Paso attorney Patrick Gordon.
They’ll have a lot to tackle, like selecting a new CEO, and Escobar said there is a lot riding on getting the plan and new board in place, which would take Children’s out of bankruptcy status by january 8th.
“What we are doing through the joint plan is number one, ensuring that the hospital stays alive,” Escobar said. “Number two – that we retain the 400 jobs, good jobs that this community needs. Number three – that we’re retaining the health care that it offers the children of this community. Number four – that we’re preserving the position of the medical school, something that this community has worked hard for, for well over a decade.”
The hearing will be at 11 am Tuesday at the El Paso federal courthouse. ABC-7 will be there and will have the latest on air and online.
