The operator of a now-defunct chain of outpatient radiology screening centers formerly based in Philadelphia has filed for bankruptcy protection, citing $32.4 in liabilities.
The Chapter 11 notice is the latest in a string of setbacks for National Medical Imaging. And it appears to come in response to a court loss last month in its decade-long battle with U.S. Bank, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported Wednesday.
In its filing, NMI listed assets as “unknown” and liabilities that include a disputed judgement of more than $15 million to the Minneapolis-based lender and its affiliates. Former owner Maury Rosenberg and company owe another $16 million to a family trust set up for his son, David, and $904,000 in attorneys’ fees.
The unending court odyssey dates back to 2008, when U.S. Bank and other affiliated entities filed involuntary bankruptcy petitions against NMI after it fell behind on equipment leases.
Rosenberg countersued and a jury at one point awarded him more than $6 million in damages. But a Pennsylvania panel of judges reversed that decision in June, ruling that U.S. Bank did not push NMI out of business, as the radiology firm was already in financial decline prior to the involuntary bankruptcy action. Wednesday’s report noted that NMI’s troubles began in December 2007 following cuts to Medicare reimbursement rates for outpatient imaging, and the advent of the global recession.
Attorneys on both sides declined to comment to the Philadelphia Business Journal.
At its peak, National Medical Imaging operated 23 outpatient radiology screening centers with 150 employees and $72 million in annual revenue, the Star Tribune reported previously.
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Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.