Coalition Asks Lockyer To Block Sale of Los Angeles Cancer Hospital to Tenet
The Coalition for Quality Health Care, a coalition of community health organizations, nurses and cancer survivors, on Monday asked Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) to block the sale of a small, not-for-profit Los Angeles cancer hospital to Tenet Healthcare, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The 60-bed USC/Norris Hospital is affiliated with the USC/Norris Cancer Center, one of 41 National Cancer Institute-designated research centers in the United States; Tenet has managed the hospital since 1997. The coalition raised concerns that Tenet's practice of price increases and staff reductions at acquired hospitals could "undercut the ... cutting-edge cancer care" at USC/Norris, the Chronicle reports. "When money drives health care, you wonder about the quality of care," Lark Galloway-Gilliam, executive director of Community Health Council, a not-for-profit health care advocacy group and coalition member, said. However, Tenet spokesperson Gary Hopkins attributed the opposition of the sale to the coalition's "agenda against Tenet." He said, "This is a group that has opposed every recent acquisition we have tried to make in Los Angeles." He added that University of Southern California officials "have no qualms" about the sale of USC/Norris. He did not disclose the purchase price of the hospital. Tom Dresslar, a Lockyer spokesperson, said that the attorney general has until Jan. 17 to review the sale. "We're reviewing this particular transaction very carefully," he said (Said, San Francisco Chronicle, 11/26).
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