By ANDY GARDNER

MASSENA -- Massena Memorial Hospital’s potential affiliates remain kept close to the vest, as officials and the town have not yet finalized an asset transfer deal.

MMH is in the process of becoming a private, non-profit entity. They are currently owned by the Town of Massena.

The hospital is in talks with two entities that haven’t been made public, except for CEO Bob Wolleben to say one is in eastern New York and one is in western New York.

He said both entities have said there is “no value at this point” to continuing affiliation talks until the asset transfer is finalized.

“We can’t operationalize the corporation until we get the asset transfer processed, and that’s an ongoing negotiation,” Wolleben said at Monday’s Board of Managers meeting. “The discussion about letters of intent with both organizations that are finalists has been put on hold.”

The process is ongoing amid a time when MMH went from about two years of consistently finishing each month in the black to a streak from June to October of this year where they have hit a deficit of nearly $3 million.