A judge in Clarke County has appointed a receiver to oversee the shuttered Thomasville Regional Medical Center assets in Thomasville, Ala., the latest in financial difficulties for the facility.

Last month, the Thomasville hospital suspended operations, citing staffing issues. North Avenue Capital, a Florida bank, filed a complaint in Clarke County Circuit Court September 27 to foreclose on the hospital property after the hospital defaulted on about $35 million in loans.

Concurrently, North Avenue Capital filed an emergency motion asking the judge to appoint a receiver to maintain the hospital’s assets, for fear the property would begin to lose value if it is not maintained.

“Now that defendants have ceased operating the hospital and office building, the property is empty of staff with no one to care for the property,” North Avenue Capital’s motion states. “The personal property consists of expensive medical equipment that must be properly maintained…NAC does not know if the medical equipment has been properly shut down or what the current status of the property is.”

On Friday, Clarke County Circuit Court Judge J. Perry Newton appointed Kevin Smoker of Popes Real Estate in Thomasville as the receiver. A status conference will be held Nov. 4.

North Avenue Capital replaced ServisFirst as the primary lender for Thomasville RMC in 2020 as part of a restructuring, court documents indicate.

The hospital has struggled for years financially. A complaint filed in January by the Thomasville Health Care Authority, which helped start Thomasville RMC in 2015, alleges that the hospital defaulted on an agreement with technology provider Sparkfund in 2022.

The complaint states that the hospital falsely told Sparkfund that the health care authority would provide financial contributions and guarantees to Sparkfund on behalf of the hospital.

Thomasville RMC has denied the allegations, and the case remains pending.

And last month, Newton issued a $1.29 million summary judgment against the hospital and in favor of GE Health Financial Services, after GE alleged that the hospital reneged on a lease agreement for medical equipment.

Newton issued the judgment after attorneys for the hospital failed to respond to GE’s complaint, according to prior reporting from AL.com.

Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day hopes that the hospital will not remain closed permanently. In a lengthy Facebook post, Day said he hoped another buyer would be able to re-open the 29-bed facility.

“TRMC is one of the finest rural hospitals in the nation,” Day said in his post. “Someone will certainly be interested in buying it at a good price. We expect increased interest in the coming days.”

Rural hospitals like Thomasville RMC are closing throughout the state. Georgiana Medical Center in Butler County closed in 2019. Last year, Monroe County Hospital closed its labor and delivery unit.

More than half of Alabama’s 52 rural hospitals are at risk of closing, and 19 are at an “immediate risk” of closing, according to a report from the Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform, reported by Alabama Daily News.