LOS MEDANOS COMMUNITY HOSPITAL: Doctors’ Group Offers Plan
A second group has made an offer to reopen the Los Medanos Community Hospital, which has been closed for four years, the Contra Costa Times reports. The proposal comes from Phoenix Medical Facilities, a group of physicians and other investors who offered "to bring 24-hour urgent care and outpatient surgery to the hospital." The "investors gave the hospital board a proposal to buy the entire campus for $8.24 million over seven years." The group's offer comes "[m]ore than a month after" the hospital board announced that "Contra Costa County would reopen the hospital for 24-hour urgent care and would relocate the county's Pittsburg Health Center clinic there."
Cool Reception
Contra Costa Times reports that Los Medanos' "board has appeared indifferent at best to" the proposal. Board member Bruce Croskey "said he doesn't consider last week's Phoenix offer credible," saying the "basic offer is far too low." The "county's cash offer is for [more than] $100,000 a year, plus initial costs of $4 million or more to reopen and renovate the hospital." Hospital board President Al Prince said, "I just doubt (the doctors) have anywhere near the dollars necessary to purchase [the hospital]." He added that "a fair appraisal of the property would probably be between $10 million and $15 million." Dr. Randy Clarke of the Phoenix Group said, "I don't blame the hospital board for being skeptical of an 11th-hour offer like this. It's easy to get jaded after four years of frustration like they've had." However, he said, "We need to convince the hospital board, and the community, that we're for real. It's up to us to prove the value of this, and whether we can do it." The Times reports that Prince hopes to schedule a February 9 board meeting to approve the county deal (Richards, 2/1).