Vinita's Craig General Hospital declares bankruptcy, the latest in a string of rural OK hospitals to do so

Craig General Hospital has become the latest rural Oklahoma hospital to declare bankruptcy with a Chapter 9 filing Feb. 25 in the Northern District of Oklahoma U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The hospital struggled with retirement program payments, a forced remodel and reduced reimbursement rates, court documents show. Craig General was opened in 1963 and now has 62 beds and employs about 330 people, according to the documents. Craig General is the seventh rural Oklahoma hospital to declare bankruptcy in the past five years. The others have been in Fairfax, Drumright, Haskell County, Prague, Seiling and Pauls Valley.