In a month and a half, more than $2 million of the $4 million in accounts receivable owed to the former owners of Natchez Regional Medical Center has been collected.

That’s good news for taxpayers, especially if the solid collections effort continues.

The county-owned hospital was sold at the end of September to a private health care management company, but the hospital’s complicated bankruptcy plan will take at least two years to play out — if all the pieces fall into place.

One of those pieces is good collections of what was owed to the hospital at the time of the sale.

We appreciate what appears to be a good effort on the part of the hospital’s new owners in driving that collections process.

For the bankruptcy plan to work correctly and maximize the payments to the unsecured creditors — which includes Adams County — the great majority of what is owed needs to be collected.

We also urge Adams County leaders to continue their efforts in righting the wrongs done to former NRMC employees who were financially harmed in the hospital’s bankruptcy — either by having health insurance claims go unpaid or in reduced retirement plan contributions.

Natchez Regional’s building and franchise are under a new watch, but the pains of the past continue to need attention if all of those affected are to receive what they were due.