NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — North Adams Regional Hospital has been denied its application as a critical access hospital that would have given it cost-based reimbursements from Medicare. 

According to a report in the North Adams Transcript on Tuesday, the hospital's application was denied by the federal government because of its proximity to Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield. President and CEO William Frado told the newspaper that the government looked at Route 7 as a major highway, which puts the two hospitals closer than the cut off of 35 miles.

The hospital's parent company, Northern Berkshire Healthcare, had sought the designation to aid its financial picture as it struggles to emerge from bankruptcy and reduce its nearly $50 million debt.

"It would have been nice to get the designation, but our financial projections indicated that we'll be able to come out of bankruptcy as a stand-alone viable hospital," Frado told the paper.