Friday, October 2, 2026 | St. Lawrence County, NY
BY JIMMY LAWTONNorth Country This WeekCorrection: Updated story at 12:49 p.m. March 10 to include the correct year of Becker's resignation.
OGDENSBURG — A former Carthage Hospital CEO said putting Wintergreen’s Rob Bloom in charge of the North Star Health Alliance’s restructuring “seems like appointing the fox to guard the hen house that he was manager of - only giving him more money,” in an email sent to Wintergreen officials that was obtained by North Country This Week.
Meanwhile, North Star Health Alliance is asking a federal bankruptcy judge to formally approve Barclay Damon LLP as lead counsel for hospitals, while a former Carthage Hospital CEO expressed deep concerns about putting Wintergreen in charge of restructuring.
Both Barclay and Wintergreen have been representing NSHA for some time, but they still need court approval due to bankruptcy law.
The hospitals, including Carthage Area Hospital and Claxton-Hepburn Medical Center, provided Barclay Damon a $1.22 million retainer, to be held in trust and spent only after the court approves fees. Hourly rates for the firm range from $475 to $1,000 for partners and $325 to $650 for associates, with discounts applied. The firm previously billed roughly $327,000 for pre-bankruptcy work, of which $267,000 was paid and $60,000 written off.
If approved, Barclay Damon will advise the hospitals on everything from court filings and creditor negotiations to restructuring plans, financing arrangements, and potential asset sales. The firm says it has no conflicts that would prevent it from representing the hospitals in these proceedings, though it may represent some parties in unrelated matters.
The request to hire Barclay builds on requests made last week to hire Rob Bloom’s Wintergreen consulting firm to lead the restructuring and bankruptcy as well as two additional law firms and a company to assist with creditor communications.
Wintergreen concerns
While the Barclay Damon contract was expected, the hiring of Wintergreen, Inc. is not settling well for some.
Bloom, a principal at Wintergreen, Inc. is serving as Chief Restructuring Officer.
He previously served as Chief Financial Officer at Carthage Area Hospital. Wintergreen, which has provided financial and restructuring services to hundreds of hospitals nationwide, according to court documents, is also a creditor of North Star.
Bloom and his team bill $250–$450 per hour, with an estimated $240,000 monthly fee. The system previously paid $325,000 for pre-bankruptcy services, applied first to earlier work, with any excess held as a security deposit. Details on the original contract have not been made publicly available.
The decision to put Wintergreen at the helm has raised alarms for employees, current and former at the hospitals as Wintergreen appears to have been providing financial guidance to North Star during its financial decline.
An email obtained by North Country This Week from Carthage Area Hospital CEO Walter Becker to Wintergreen officials highlights those concerns.
“Having been around a while, the published dollar amounts seem totally unreasonable and out of line; especially when Mr. Bloom was the CFO prior to the bankruptcy. The board of directors have a community social fiduciary responsibility and I hope they are taking this extremely seriously and acquiring other bids as well. Regardless, it surely may not look good by the employees and community stakeholders,” Becker says in the email.
“This surely looks "greasy" to me and I think soon there needs to be a lot more transparency, clarification and accountability. I am extremely concerned. If I were on the governing body, I would halt this relationship ASAP! I personally would have a vote of "no-confidence" in such an arrangement. I believe Mr. Bloom should immediately disengage with North Star Health Alliance before this creates more concerns for the board, employees and community at large.”
In a response to Becker, Jonathan Pantenburg, a principal at the company, says that Bloom is not an employee of the hospital and is not serving as CFO at Carthage.
“Rob is currently serving as the Chief Restructuring Officer for North Star Health Alliance. This temporary role is meant to guide the hospital system through its Chapter 11 restructuring, and he is serving in the role related to his position and affiliation with Wintergreen,” the response says.
Becker served as CEO of CAH for more than a decade after apparently resigning in 2011 under pressure due to issues related to the construction of Meadowbrook Terrace.
He did not share the emails with NCTW, but confirmed the authenticity.
In regard to Wintergreen, Assemblyman Scott Gray has publicly stated that it "doesn't really make sense” for the court to approve the plan to have Wintergreen at the helm because the same firm appears to have been involved in its decline.
Wintergreen conflicts
Wintergreen’s hire comes with some potential conflicts that were raised in the court documents, which Wintergreen says will not result in an issue.
Rob Bloom’s wife, Kristen Bloom, is a mental health therapist employed by Carthage Area Hospital, Inc. This employment is not a significant source of family income and Ms. Bloom intends to leave that position within the next six months.
Ben Rubacha is the Chief Information Officer of the North Star Health Alliance, Inc. system, and also provides limited IT services to other entities, either individually or through an IT consulting firm he owns. Rubacha has been a part-time (approximately 3-5 hours per week) employee of Wintergreen where has helped manage Wintergreen’s own IT issues.
Wintergreen intends to terminate Rubacha’s services as an employee and, to the extent needed, retain his consulting services as an independent contractor.
Other contracts
Additionally North Star is requesting court approval to hire Verrill Dana LLP as special conflicts counsel, to step in if Barclay Damon faces a conflict.
Verrill Dana previously represented Wintergreen in drafting Bloom’s engagement agreement, limiting its ability to act against Wintergreen without consent.
They are also seeking to retain Bousquet Holstein PLLC, despite $101,111 in unpaid pre-bankruptcy fees.
The firm argues its knowledge is essential for ongoing disputes with federal regulators, labor unions, and vendors. Hourly rates for partners range from $440–$530; associates bill $320–$330.
To manage notifications for thousands of creditors, North Star has engaged Omni Agent Solutions, which also needs court approval. Omni is also a vendor and creditor, posing yet another potential conflict.
How it got here
In recent weeks North Star Health Alliance has laid off more than 120 employees, and lost dozens more through resignations, including CEO Richard Duvall.
This all follows a months-long dispute between North Star Health Alliance and the Department of Health after millions of dollars in payments from the state’s Vital Access Provider Assurance Program were halted in July.
The payments were intended to support the hospital system’s restructuring into a critical access hospital and safety-net model.
The Department of Health had been aware that the transition could temporarily disrupt billing and require close coordination and timely financial support. That support did not materialize, leaving the system with more than $120 million in unpaid charges and nearly $90 million in accounts payable, with no clear path to resolving the backlog.
Over the past few months the Department of Health has stepped in to help ensure payroll was made, but no action has been taken to bring in a receiver to help with restructuring. The DOH has been quiet on any plans it has to intervene and has publicly stated that future payments to help shore up financial problems are not guaranteed.
