California Hospital News Roundup for the Week of December 4, 2015
Daughters of Charity Health System
On Thursday, California Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) conditionally approved BlueMountain Capital Management's investment in Daughters of Charity Health System, the San Jose Mercury News reports (Seipel, San Jose Mercury News, 12/3).
Under the deal, BlueMountain would be required to operate the health system's six hospitals as not-for-profit facilities for at least three years. After that, the New York-based hedge fund would have the option to purchase the hospitals, for $100 million, and convert them into for-profit centers (Har, AP/Sacramento Bee, 12/3).
BlueMountain also would loan $150 million to the hospital chain and invest $180 million in capital improvements at the hospitals.
Other terms of the deal would require BlueMountain to keep five of the system's six hospitals open for 10 years, maintain current Medi-Cal contracts and services at each facility for a decade and provide charity care (Seipel, San Jose Mercury News, 12/3).
BlueMountain spokesperson Douglas Hesney said the company is reviewing the deal (AP/Sacramento Bee, 12/3).
Miller Children's and Women's Hospital Long Beach
Miller Children's and Women's Hospital Long Beach has received a five-year, $250,000 federal grant, the Long Beach Press Telegram reports. The funding will go toward the hospital's Transition Care Program, which helps patients shift to adult care providers.
The hospital was one of eight facilities nationwide to receive the grant (Zonkel, Long Beach Press Telegram, 12/1).
Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System
The Salinas Valley Memorial Healthcare System has acquired Salinas Valley PrimeCare Medical Group, according to a release.
San Francisco-based PrimeCare is the largest primary care/specialty medical group in Salinas Valley. Under the deal, the health system will have access to an additional 20 physicians and expand its urgent care platform (Brown Gibbons Lang & Company release, 12/3).
St. Joseph Health, Providence Health & Services
St. Joseph Health and Providence Health & Services have announced a definitive merger agreement, the Eureka Times-Standard reports. Under the agreement the health systems will create a joint parent organization called Providence St. Joseph Health.
The California Nurses Association and National Nurses United have called on state Attorney General Kamala Harris (D) to conduct a comprehensive review of the proposal (Soden, Eureka Times-Standard, 11/28).
Sutter Coast Hospital, Crescent City
Sutter Health has reached an agreement to settle a lawsuit filed over the health system's plan to cut the number of beds at Sutter Coast Hospital, the Del Norte Triplicate reports.
Beverley Hussey -- the widow of Sonny Hussey, who donated the land on which Sutter Coast was built -- filed the lawsuit over an alleged breach of contract as part of Sutter's plans to transfer ownership of the hospital and convert it into a critical access facility, which would have allowed Sutter to collect larger Medicare reimbursements. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed (Anderson, Del Norte Triplicate, 11/24).
Sutter Lakeside Hospital, Lakeport
Sutter Lakeside Hospital has donated $10,000 to the Kelseyville Food Pantry and the Lake County Hunger Task Force, the Lake County Record-Bee reports.
The donation was part of a larger $255,000 donation from the Sutter Health system to 27 food banks in Northern California, Oregon and Hawaii. Sutter Health has donated more than $1.6 million to food banks in the last seven years (Wells, Lake County Record-Bee, 11/27).
UC-Davis Health System
The UC-Davis Health System has reported a fiscal year 2015 net income of $46.6 million, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
The health system's revenue increased to from $1.6 billion in FY 2014 to $1.7 billion in FY 2015. However, higher costs caused the health system's operating revenue to fall from $56.7 million to $51.9 million, resulting in a lower margin (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/20).
Universal Health Services
Universal Health Services, a Pennsylvania-based company that operates two behavioral health hospitals in California, plans to open a private psychiatric hospital in Rocklin, the Sacramento Business Journal reports.
A hearing on the proposed 102-bed facility is scheduled for Dec. 15. The planned hospital has faced opposition from local residents (Robertson, Sacramento Business Journal, 11/19).
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