Cochise Regional Hospital in Douglas on Wednesday asked a Tucson federal judge for a temporary restraining order on a government decision to halt its Medicare payments.
U.S. Judge Cindy K. Jorgenson did not immediately make a ruling, but instead took the issue under advisement.
A lawyer for the 25-bed hospital said a temporary restraining order would save the hospital and the Douglas community, "from irreparable harm."
Douglas is a border community in Cochise County about 118 miles southeast of Tucson.
By stopping Medicare payments as of July 10, the federal government has affected the hospital's ability to get payments from other insurers, attorney William S. Sowders told Jorgenson. He noted that the nearest hospital, Copper Queen in Bisbee, is 25 miles away from Douglas.
The Douglas hospital's emergency room remains open, but its ability to admit patients is limited due to the freeze on Medicare payments.
Cochise Regional Hospital had a Medicare provider agreement until the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services CMS) terminated that agreement effective July 10.Β
The government's decision was based on four surveys conducted between February 19, 2014, and March 26, 2015. The surveys revealed the hospital was not in compliance with federal regulations, court documents say.
Those surveys found, among many other issues, that there were continuing, serious problems with basic nursing care.
During the fourth survey, completed on March 26, Cochise nurses left a patient with congestive heart failure unaccompanied and unmonitored while he waited for transportation to a dialysis center, federal officials outlined in court documents.
When the patient was transferred to the van he became unresponsive and, after having to be airlifted to Tucson, died.
The hospital has had previous problems with patient safety and finances.
In 2014 the hospital agreed to pay a civil fine of $4,250 to the Arizona Department of Health Services following an investigation that turned up numerous problems with patient safety.
Officials agreed to pay the state fine for numerous violations, including having no doctors credentialed to perform surgery and failing to keep the facility clean enough "to prevent the spread of infection," state records show.
The hospital had been in financial distress, and its former operators from the nonprofit Community Healthcare of Douglas Inc. filed for federal bankruptcy reorganization in 2013.
On Jan. 25, 2014, the hospital was acquired by the nonprofit Douglas Community Hospital Inc., which began working closely with the Peopleβs Choice Hospital Group of Chicago β a company that specializes in financially distressed facilities.
