The Urology Center of Colorado, 2777 Mile High Stadium Circle. (BusinessDen file)
An outpatient surgery center that angered patients when it closed in August has filed for bankruptcy in the face of a $1 million fraud lawsuit and upcoming summer trial.
The Urology Center of Colorado, known as TUCC, filed for Chapter 7 on Feb. 13. Chapter 7 bankruptcy requires a company to cease operations and liquidate its assets.
TUCC took that first step last summer, leading some patients to complain on Yelp.
“My appointment has been CANCELLED WITHOUT WARNING,” wrote one longtime patient. Another said, “We wondered why doctors kept leaving; now we know why. Appalling.”
TUCC’s former administrator, Luke Hopps, did not answer requests for comment on the closure. An announcement on the website of the surgery center, which most recently operated at 2777 Mile High Stadium Circle in Denver, does not offer an explanation for the shuttering.
“After 18 years of dedicated service to the Denver community, we are announcing the closure of (TUCC). It has truly been a privilege to care for you and your families,” it states.
Two weeks before filing for bankruptcy, TUCC and its former CEO, John Tillett, were sued by Ark Data Centers, an Iowa company that stored TUCC’s patient data. That lawsuit seeks $1 million in unpaid bills but also accuses the company and Tillett of perjury and fraud.
Ark says that it informed TUCC last summer of a $310,000 unpaid invoice. TUCC responded by threatening to seek criminal charges against Ark if the data firm were to cut off its access to patient data, alleging that would be a violation of HIPAA, the federal privacy law.
“TUCC made these threats even though it had failed to pay for the data storage over the last ten months,” according to the lawsuit, which accuses TUCC of “weaponizing the HIPAA laws to attempt to force Ark to provide services to the defendants free of charge” last year.
By August, when patients were complaining online, Ark says that it began to question whether TUCC was still operating. So, it asked Tillett, who is also a medical doctor, to certify under penalty of perjury that TUCC was “providing treatment to patients.” He did, it says.
For that, Ark is suing Tillett for fraud and TUCC for breach of contract. It is seeking $1.03 million plus attorney fees. TUCC and Tillett have not yet responded to the lawsuit in court.
TUCC is also being sued by a medical billing firm and an office supply company, which said in December that it was owed $150,000. TUCC has not responded to those either.
Meanwhile, a four-day jury trial is set for July in downtown Denver in the case of Thomas Pugh, a Greenwood Village doctor who previously co-owned TUCC, according to bankruptcy files. Pugh claims to be owed nearly $200,000 in back wages. TUCC disputes that he is.
In its bankruptcy, TUCC reports about $1 million in debt, almost all of which is owed to vendors, including $310,000 that it believes Ark deserves. TUCC reports $3.4 million in assets, nearly all of which is patients’ unpaid medical bills and other accounts receivable, it says.
The company had revenue of $38 million in 2022 and a nearly identical number in 2023, but annual revenue fell to just $18.5 million in 2024, according to the bankruptcy filings.
The Urology Center of Colorado, 2777 Mile High Stadium Circle. (BusinessDen file)
An outpatient surgery center that angered patients when it closed in August has filed for bankruptcy in the face of a $1 million fraud lawsuit and upcoming summer trial.
The Urology Center of Colorado, known as TUCC, filed for Chapter 7 on Feb. 13. Chapter 7 bankruptcy requires a company to cease operations and liquidate its assets.
TUCC took that first step last summer, leading some patients to complain on Yelp.
“My appointment has been CANCELLED WITHOUT WARNING,” wrote one longtime patient. Another said, “We wondered why doctors kept leaving; now we know why. Appalling.”
TUCC’s former administrator, Luke Hopps, did not answer requests for comment on the closure. An announcement on the website of the surgery center, which most recently operated at 2777 Mile High Stadium Circle in Denver, does not offer an explanation for the shuttering.
“After 18 years of dedicated service to the Denver community, we are announcing the closure of (TUCC). It has truly been a privilege to care for you and your families,” it states.
Two weeks before filing for bankruptcy, TUCC and its former CEO, John Tillett, were sued by Ark Data Centers, an Iowa company that stored TUCC’s patient data. That lawsuit seeks $1 million in unpaid bills but also accuses the company and Tillett of perjury and fraud.
Ark says that it informed TUCC last summer of a $310,000 unpaid invoice. TUCC responded by threatening to seek criminal charges against Ark if the data firm were to cut off its access to patient data, alleging that would be a violation of HIPAA, the federal privacy law.
“TUCC made these threats even though it had failed to pay for the data storage over the last ten months,” according to the lawsuit, which accuses TUCC of “weaponizing the HIPAA laws to attempt to force Ark to provide services to the defendants free of charge” last year.
By August, when patients were complaining online, Ark says that it began to question whether TUCC was still operating. So, it asked Tillett, who is also a medical doctor, to certify under penalty of perjury that TUCC was “providing treatment to patients.” He did, it says.
For that, Ark is suing Tillett for fraud and TUCC for breach of contract. It is seeking $1.03 million plus attorney fees. TUCC and Tillett have not yet responded to the lawsuit in court.
TUCC is also being sued by a medical billing firm and an office supply company, which said in December that it was owed $150,000. TUCC has not responded to those either.
Meanwhile, a four-day jury trial is set for July in downtown Denver in the case of Thomas Pugh, a Greenwood Village doctor who previously co-owned TUCC, according to bankruptcy files. Pugh claims to be owed nearly $200,000 in back wages. TUCC disputes that he is.
In its bankruptcy, TUCC reports about $1 million in debt, almost all of which is owed to vendors, including $310,000 that it believes Ark deserves. TUCC reports $3.4 million in assets, nearly all of which is patients’ unpaid medical bills and other accounts receivable, it says.
The company had revenue of $38 million in 2022 and a nearly identical number in 2023, but annual revenue fell to just $18.5 million in 2024, according to the bankruptcy filings.
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