The clock is now ticking on the tightly scheduled timeline set up by lawmakers to save the Prince George’s County hospital system after Gov. Martin O’Malley signed the hospital bill Thursday.

The county has been struggling to right the sinking hospital for the last several years. Studies of the system have pointed to operator Dimensions Healthcare as playing a key role in mismanaging funds and driving the hospitals toward bankruptcy. If every step of the timeline is followed, a new hospital owner will be in the works by early next year.