Pacer Health Corporation (fka PHLH)

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This was April last year...

Craig Morgan, who signed the Cumberland-Pacer petition and is listed as Knox County Hospital chief executive on its website, said last week to local news station KYMT TV, "We have done the things that we have done to keep the hospital going, and it's been a chore."

It isn't clear from court documents whether Cumberland-Pacer intends to liquidate or restructure during its case, but traditionally, a Chapter 11 bankruptcy is used to restructure a company that will continue to operate. Morgan didn't return request for comment Wednesday, nor did the lawyer representing Cumberland-Pacer in the bankruptcy case.

The filing also comes shortly after Cumberland-Pacer resolved a dispute with Pacer Health Corp. (PHLH), having reached a private settlement last week.

The case was filed in 2010, when Pacer Health alleged that Cumberland-Pacer owed it Medicare payments after Pacer Health transferred to Cumberland-Pacer two subsidiaries, one of which operated Knox County Hospital and which both filed for Chapter 11 alongside Cumberland-Pacer.

Cumberland-Pacer's attorney in that case, Robert Walker, confirmed that a private settlement was reached and the case has concluded. Pacer Health isn't listed as a creditor in the bankruptcy case.

The nature of the corporate relationship between Pacer Health, a turnaround company that acquires distressed businesses in the medical and transportation industry, and Cumberland-Pacer is somewhat unclear, but Walker said that there is a complicated corporate affiliation between the companies.

Pacer Health didn't return request for comment Wednesday.