Landmark Medical Center, on the brink of collapse a year ago, may be finding its road to survival.

Jonathan N. Savage, the lawyer who was court-appointed last June to run the troubled Woonsocket hospital, said he’s hopeful the hospital will soon announce a partnership that will keep it afloat.

“I hope we’ll have some positive news to report prior to the sixth interim report,” Savage told Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein on Friday, while delivering his fifth interim report. The sixth report is expected in four weeks.

Hospital officials have long asserted that Landmark cannot survive on its own; they have been looking for a buyer both in state and out of state. In a phone interview Friday, hospital spokesman Bill Fischer hinted that Landmark was working on an innovative arrangement. “If we accomplish this,” he said, “I think there are other hospitals that will look at this model.”

Unionized employees received a letter a couple of months ago naming Caritas Christi Health Care as a potential partner for Landmark, according to Chris Callaci, staff representative with the United Nurses and Allied Professionals, a union representing 500 Landmark workers. Caritas Christi is a Catholic chain of six hospitals in Massachusetts, including St. Anne’s Hospital in Fall River.

Fischer, the hospital spokesman, said that employees received the letter when Landmark was in the midst of a “due diligence process” with Caritas. “These people were coming into the hospital,” he said. “We thought it would be appropriate to inform employees who they were.” Fischer declined to say whether the negotiations progressed after that.

The Superior Court appointed Savage to take control of the hospital on June 26, after Landmark petitioned for help because it was in danger of closing within six to nine months. Although called a “special master,” Savage is like a receiver, and functions as the hospital’s chief executive and board chairman. His court-supervised role gives him powers that the previous hospital management did not possess, including the right to renegotiate contracts and to defer payments.

From June 26, 2008, through April 30, 2009, Savage has submitted bills totaling $987,369.

If that were a president’s salary, then Savage would be one of the highest-paid hospital administrators in the state. But Savage said the money is going for more than one person and more than just the work of a hospital president. He has a dozen people working on the Landmark case, and they’re providing an array of financial and legal services that go beyond a hospital president’s duties. Fischer said that, in the year before Savage took over, Landmark spent $780,000 on legal services. Now, all legal work is included in Savage’s billed services.

With an eye to savings, Savage and his team have reviewed some 200 contracts with vendors and renegotiated some while replacing others. Additionally, the former chief executive officer, Gary J. Gaube, retired at the end of last year, eliminating his $500,000 annual salary. The president, Richard Charest, took a 25-percent pay cut, down to $300,000.

Since Savage took over, the hospital has been paying all its current bills and also meeting its bond payments, Fischer said. But it still owes $7 million to numerous vendors for services and supplies provided before June 26. It remains unclear how much, if any, of that debt will be paid.

Savage said the hospital continues to lose money, but significantly less than in the past, and noted that the census has increased, raising income.

Although nearly all community hospitals in the state are losing money, most have endowments to provide a cushion against losses. Landmark does not. As a result, Landmark is the only hospital in the state whose liabilities are greater than its assets. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2007, Landmark’s debts exceeded its assets by $9 million. Over the succeeding year the hospital fell $10 million deeper in to the hole –– with the deficit reaching $19 million in fiscal year 2008 –– because of a decline in the value of its pension fund and continuing losses from operations.

Callaci, the union representative, said that union had not been asked to make concessions. “That doesn’t mean we won’t have to,” he said.

Health Director David R. Gifford said that he is “generally comfortable and pleased” with Savage’s efforts. “Clearly he took a hospital that wasn’t going to make it through the fall and kept it running and has increased its daily census.”

ffreyer@projo.com