You might have seen in this week’s Real Deals an item about a $624,000 Heights house being recovered in a foreclosure sale.
But did you know that the person connected to the house is Dr. Pittman Moore, who is in Chapter 11 reorganization?
The OB-GYN operated Moore Surgical Arts & Gynecology PLLC, a women’s health medical practice of Hot Springs, according to his bankruptcy filing. He also owns Health Investments LLC of Hot Springs, which was the owner of the 3,960-SF Heights home that was foreclosed on.
Moore listed $1.67 million in assets and $2.99 million in debts in his March bankruptcy filing.
Neither Moore nor his attorney, O.C. “Rusty” Sparks of the Caddell Reynolds Law Firm of Little Rock, returned a call from Whispers.
But a file in Moore’s bankruptcy case spells out what caused the financial trouble.
In 2016, Moore was hired at Johnson Regional Medical Center in Clarksville to practice gynecology for $750,000 a year. But a new CEO took over the hospital in 2017. Moore said the new administrator rejected Moore’s contract, citing the Physician Self-Referral Law, which prevents doctors from referring patients for services that the doctors have a financial interest in.
Moore’s salary was slashed by 40%. “At that point, a decision was made to disassociate from the hospital and return to full private practice of gynecology with offices in Clarksville and Little Rock,” Moore’s reorganization plan said.
There were “significant delays and startup costs,” but his practices were fully operational by February 2018, according to the filing.
“Although business was decent, [Moore] struggled with collections for services rendered.”
According to the filing, Moore “was forced to take out several high interest loans to keep the practice operational and cover debt service on various obligations.”
In February 2019, Moore’s practice was “abruptly shut down due to the inability to pay expenses, including payroll,” the filing said.
Making matters worse, in May 2019, Moore lost his malpractice insurance coverage because he couldn’t pay for it, the filing said.
Moore couldn’t work until he was hired by Healthy Connections Inc. of Little Rock in August 2019. “At that point debts and interest had snowballed,” the filing said.
He continues to work for Healthy Connections, where he’s earning $280,000 annually. And he also is earning about $18,000 annually from being the medical director for Chrysalis Day Spa in Hot Springs.
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