Another hurdle has come up in negotiations between the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Steward Health to keep Sharon Regional Medical Center open for patients in the Shenango Valley.

Just last week, 21 News reported that Meadville Medical Center in neighboring Crawford County plans to take over operations at Sharon Regional in order to keep the hospital open.

However, according to a filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court Steward is now requesting double the amount they previously requested saying they will close the hospital if the commonwealth does not agree to this by Monday, December 2.

Originally, Steward requested $1.5 million per month to keep the hospital operational. That number has been doubled to $3 million per month.

According to the filing, this request was made just before the close of business on November 27, which is the day before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Furthermore, the request was not even received by the commonwealth until 3:30 p.m., just an hour and a half before the end of business on November 29 going into the weekend leaving no time to inquire with those with authority concerning those extra funds.

"The Attorney General has not been able to reach anyone at the legislature or the Governor's office to obtain funding of $3 million to fund December," the filing reads.

In response to this short notice and deadline, the commonwealth requested a two-week extension of the notice, as well as a hearing in Bankruptcy Court.

If the extension is granted, Steward would not be able to send out a notice of closure to employees or patients for 14 days. It would also give the commonwealth more time to finalize the purchase of the hospital with Meadville Medical Center or find the additional funding to hold them over another month. 

Attorneys will meet in Bankruptcy Court Wednesday, Dec 4 to discuss whether the pause on closure will be granted. Until then, it appears Steward cannot move forward with shutting anything down.