BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. (AP) - Hancock Medical Center’s Board of Trustees has sued its former management company, claiming it lost millions of dollars from its contract with Tennessee-based Quorum Health Resources.
The lawsuit was filed this past week in U.S. District Court in Gulfport.
The hospital is owned by Hancock County and the board of supervisors appoints the hospital board that oversees its operation. Quorum managed the day-to-day operations at the hospital more than 20 years.
Supervisors replaced Quorum last year with New Orleans-based Oschner Health System. The hospital board approved a 90-day contract with Ochsner Health Systems in September 2103, and a long-term contract was announced last week.
The lawsuit argues Quorum allowed the hospital and doctors contracted by the hospital to be severely overstaffed, did not collect $8 million for services that were provided and that hospital administrators hired doctors and handed out contracts without permission of the hospital board.
A spokesman from Quorum’s legal department said the company is aware of the lawsuit but had no comment at this time.
The lawsuit outlines claims of financial mismanagement, including failure to collect $8 million in payments from patients, and not following its own advice to cut 40 full time employees. That move alone would have saved Hancock Medical $3 million, the lawsuit said.
“Quorum utterly failed to operate Hancock Medical in a manner that would maintain its financial stability and ensure long-term viability,” according to the lawsuit.
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