Here’s the Latest on El Paso Children’s Hospital Filing for Bankruptcy

The saga of UMC and El Paso Children's Hospital has a new wrinkle to it. In order to stay independent and figure out a way to restructure their debt, Children's has filed for bankruptcy. It's a confusing enough story to begin with, but now there are a lot more details that need to be worked out. Because UMC will continue to provide services to Children's, your tax dollars will continue to be used to pay for those services, so here's what you need to know about your investment:

1. Children's still owes UMC money. How much money is anyone's guess. UMC says it's $90 million, Children's says it's not that much, but has never said exactly how much they owe UMC. That number will likely be decided on during bankruptcy proceedings when Children's debt is restructured.

2. El Paso County officials are worried about being paid back by Children's, and that could affect your taxes. El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar says if a bankruptcy judge decides Children's can't pay its bills, the money to keep them open would have to come from UMC, and UMC's money comes from your property taxes, which might mean, higher taxes to cover those bills.

3. Doctors at Children's seem to be on board with the bankruptcy filing. One doctor said that the medical staff was "anxious about getting into a partnership with a hospital that most of us didn't trust." That doctor went on to say that the medical staff is committed to maintaining patient care and seeing that Children's eventually becomes a stand-alone medical facility.

4. UMC will begin the process of looking into their legal options now that Children's has filed for bankruptcy. For now, UMC will a landlord of Children's and continue to provide some services, but there will not be any oversight by UMC over Children's Hospital.