Petersen Health Care filed for bankruptcy last month, according to a Reuters report. The filings come after cyberattacks and defaults on government-backed loans “worsened the company’s long-standing financial challenges.”

Petersen Health Care, a Peoria-based company, filed for Chapter 11 protection in the Delaware bankruptcy court with over “$295 million in debt, that includes another $45 million owned under healthcare facility loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,” Reuters reported.

Petersen’s Chief Restructuring Officer David Campbell issued a statement that said, “this will enable us to continue as a first-choice care provider and a reliable employer for our staff.” The company said it will continue to operate normally while in bankruptcy, where it will seek to restructure the company’s debts.

“Petersen operates over 90 nursing homes in Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa, with nearly 4,000 employees, capacity for 6,796 residents, and over $339.7 million in revenue in 2023.”

The Reuters report goes on to say that the company is blaming a ransomware attack last fall for forcing the company to replace its servers, email addresses and software. In court filings, the company states that the attack also caused a significant loss of business records and led to “incredible difficulty and delay” in billing customers and insurers.

Petersen experienced yet another setback when a major payor of Petersen’s, UnitedHealth Group’s Change Healthcare, was hit with a ransomware attack.

According to the report, Petersen missed payments on government loans, causing lenders to place 19 of its locations, including a Kewanee facility, into receivership. The company “has secured a $45 million bankruptcy loan” to pay operating expenses during its bankruptcy case.