Century City Hospital To Remain Open Under New Management

Beverly Hills-based Salus Surgical Group on Friday announced that it will lease the building that houses the Century City Hospital and keep the hospital open after Tenet Healthcare's lease ends in April, the Los Angeles Times reports (Hymon, Los Angeles Times, 1/31). Santa Barbara-based Tenet last month notified Los Angeles County that it planned to close Century City Hospital on April 30 and would close its emergency room in 90 days. According to Tenet spokesperson David Langness, the company decided to close the facility after failing to reach an agreement with the owner of the hospital building (California Healthline, 1/14). The property owners and officials from Salus did not disclose financial information regarding the new lease, which is pending approval by regulators. Salus CEO Randy Rosen said that the group planned to "operate the hospital as a full-service acute-care facility." Carol Gunter, acting director of the Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency, said that Salus has not notified the county whether the emergency department would remain open. Langness said that the announcement by Salus indicates that "there is a market for hospitals" and added that Tenet has received several inquiries from interested buyers for its other hospitals, according to the Times (Los Angeles Times, 1/31). Tenet on Wednesday announced plans to sell 27 of its 100 hospitals, including 19 in California (California Healthline, 1/29).

California Healthline rounds up editorials on Tenet's plans to sell the hospitals. Summaries of the editorials are below:

• Los Angeles Times: Even if Tenet finds buyers for the 27 hospitals it is selling, "which is doubtful in many cases, the buying and selling of hospitals won't solve the real problem plaguing the health care system: how to pay the bill," according to a Times editorial. "Politicians fret when private firms base closures on profit cycles, but they shy away from publicly financed heath care systems," the editorial states, adding, "Consumers want fully staffed hospitals in every community but expect the miracle of the market to pay for them" (Los Angeles Times, 2/2).

• Orange County Register: Some health care activists have called for more regulations on private for-profit hospitals after Tenet's announcement, but "politicians and activists concerned about the Tenet sale ought to be arguing for fewer regulations" to keep hospitals open, a Register editorial states. The health care market is "one of the most highly regulated markets in the country," the editorial states, adding, "Instead of bemoaning the sale of some private hospitals, people concerned about adequate heath care ought to push for the types of reforms that lead to a more competitive market" (Orange County Register, 2/1).