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Next U.S. Restructuring Epidemic: Sick Health-Care Companies

  • Rural hospitals seen as among hardest hit by regulatory change
  • Technological shifts and urgent care reshaping industry
Dr. Niraj Desai orients a suture while he sews in a kidney to a recipient patient during a kidney transplant at Johns Hopkins Hospital June 26, 2012 in Baltimore, Maryland.  Doctors from Johns Hopkins transplanted the kidney from a living donor into the patient recipient.  AFP PHOTO/Brendan SMIALOWSKI        (Photo credit should read BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/GettyImages)
Photographer: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
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A growing number of health-care companies may face near-death experiences of their own.

A wave of hospitals and other medical companies are likely to restructure their debt or file for bankruptcy in the coming year, following the recent spate of failing retailers and energy drillers, according to restructuring professionals. Regulatory changes, technological advances and the rise of urgent-care centers have created a "perfect storm" for health-care companies, said David Neier, a partner in the New York office of law firm Winston & Strawn LLC.