Tony Leys

tleys@dmreg.com

Marshalltown’s struggling hospital should soon become part of one of the state’s largest hospital chains.

UnityPoint Health-Waterloo gained initial approval last week from a federal bankruptcy judge to buy Central Iowa Healthcare, which owns Marshalltown’s 49-bed hospital.

Central Iowa Healthcare declared bankruptcy after losing $20 million last year. An audit last fall said the losses "raise substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern." The losses were blamed on several factors, including a stumbling launch of an electronic billing system and the challenge of continuing as an independent business when most hospitals have joined large systems. The non-profit hospital’s chief executive officer was fired by its board of trustees after the audit.

Besides the hospital, Central Iowa Healthcare owns clinics in Marshalltown, Conrad, State Center and Toledo. The Marshalltown clinic is in a $35 million building the company opened in 2015.

UnityPoint is to pay $11.9 million for the company in a deal that is expected to close this spring, system spokeswoman Teresa Thoensen said in an email to the Register Monday.

Thoensen said current employees of Central Iowa Healthcare will be encouraged to apply for jobs with UnityPoint.

Central Iowa Healthcare leaders announced last May that they planned to partner with Mary Greeley Medical Center in Ames and a for-profit hospital management company from Texas. But that deal fell apart.