PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — Prospect Medical Holdings has asked a judge for extra time to show it can pay back $17 million in outstanding bills, as Rhode Island has quickly turned into the latest financial headache for the for-profit hospital company based in California.

The request comes one week after R.I. Superior Court Judge Brian Stern ordered Prospect to pay the $17 million it owes to vendors, giving the company until Monday to show it has the funds necessary. The company owns two Rhode Island hospitals, Roger Williams Medical Center and Fatima Hospital, under the banner of CharterCare.

Prospect attorneys earlier this week asked for an extension until next Friday, saying they need to analyze their past-due bills and "determine the amount necessary to comply with its ongoing obligations." The company also has the option to request a stay of Stern's order.

If Stern were to deny the stay, the company could then ask the R.I. Supreme Court to intervene. So far, company officials have given no indication they're heading in that direction, though Prospect hasn't answered Target 12 requests for comment for over a week.

R.I. Attorney General Peter Neronha's office opposed Prospect's request for an extension, according to court documents. Stern has not yet scheduled a hearing to decide on the matter.

Separately Neronha on Thursday imposed a strict set of conditions for Prospect to move ahead with its proposed sale of Roger Williams and Fatima to The Centurion Foundation, a nonprofit based in Atlanta. The R.I. Department of Health imposed its own additional set of conditions on the sale.

The dozens of conditions include an $80 million infusion of cash into the new Centurion-owned CharterCare system. Prospect and Centurion would also have to commit another $66.8 million to a different fund that wouldn't be available for management fees or executive pay. (A portion of money already in escrow from a 2021 transaction could go toward covering that amount.)

The conditions have raised questions about whether the deal will move forward. The organizations also need to receive a separate regulatory approval from the Health Department through the state's Change in Effective Control process.

Rhode Island is hardly the only place where Prospect is experiencing regulatory, financial and legal problems. In Connecticut, Yale New Haven Health and Prospect are locked in a legal fight over a stalled $435 million purchase agreement that's threatening the future of three hospitals Prospect owns there.

In March, the Philadelphia Business Journal reported a Delaware County judge ordered Prospect to put $20 million in escrow for past-due rent and taxes for medical buildings. A CBS News investigation in December 2022 detailed how the private equity-backed company took on massive debt, paid out lucrative dividends and then closed and sold several hospitals across the country to make good on the money owed.

Meanwhile, health care industry leaders nationally are keeping a close eye on Prospect following the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care System last month. Steward -- which owns two local hospitals, St. Anne's in Fall River and Morton in Taunton -- is the nation's largest for-profit physician-owned hospital group. It's also the largest tenant of Medical Properties Trust, the nation's largest hospital landlord.

The Wall Street Journal reports MPT has extended financial support not only to Stewart but also to Prospect, which accounted for about 9% of MPT's assets last year.

In January, MPT officials said they expected to record about $350 million of write-downs related to Stewart, and The Journal reported last month MPT was finalizing a $300 million bankruptcy loan for the Texas-based company.

The high-stakes financial maneuvering among the nation's largest for-profit health care entities -- paired with Prospect reporting liabilities exceeding assets -- has raised questions over the future viability of Roger Williams and Fatima.

The smaller hospitals are integral to the Rhode Island heath care landscape, and any future closures would likely add pressure and exacerbate financial issues at Lifespan and Care New England, the state's two largest hospital systems. (Lifespan announced Thursday it will change its name to Brown University Health later this year.)

Neronha said the future of health care in Rhode Island keeps him awake at night.

“The self-evident truth is that private equity does not belong in health care,” Neronha said in a statement when approving the Prospect sale to Centurion.

“Such firms don’t care about patients or providers,” he added.

Ted Nesi contributed to this report.