City Of Prague Chooses New Management Company For Hospital

The City of Prague has decided a new company will take over management of the town's hospital.

Friday, March 1st 2019, 12:36 pm

By: Caleigh Bourgeois

City Of Prague Chooses New Management Company For Hospital

The City of Prague has chosen a new management group for its struggling hospital.

The city plans to maintain ownership of the Prague Community Hospital through the Prague Healthcare Authority.

Cohesive Healthcare, a Shawnee company, was chosen Friday by the Prague Hospital Management Task Force to manage the hospital’s day-to-day,

“I believe it’s a start of a new journey and great opportunities for us to save our hospital in order to flourish and protect our citizens,” Prague Mayor Cliff Bryant said.

Even with its strong legacy in the community, the hospital has been suffering for months under the Empower ownership group.

Employees have reported multiple missed paychecks, low supplies and countless other struggles.

Now, the community is slowly taking its hospital back, with a plan for Cohesive to manage.

“The localness meant a lot to us, and also their success stories at other facilities,” Bryant said.

Godwin Feh is president of Cohesive. He has rescued other hospitals in the area from similar circumstances.

“We manage about six hospitals right now and our all references are solid. It’s not our first time coming to a hospital that’s near closure,” Feh said.

Feh is already discussing strategy with current hospital employees. He’s also speaking with Prague attorney Joe Vorndran.

Vondran is working on both the city's federal case against Empower, and a separate case where several employees are suing Empower for their missed paychecks. Both cases will have hearings in front of judges Tuesday.

“Everyone's very optimistic that we're going to cross that line and return quality healthcare to this community,” Vorndran said.

Before Cohesive Healthcare can officially take over management, the city of Prague is waiting for a judge’s decision to require Empower to hand over the facility’s federal provider number.

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