SANTA ANA: Pacifica Hospital May Be Closed

      Yesterday's Orange County Register reported that Pacifica Hospital in Huntington Beach is in danger of being closed. The hospital's owner, health care "entrepreneur" Robert Zinngrabe, is "using profits from his other businesses to keep the" 98-bed facility open, "according to court documents." But Zinngrabe's other businesses are in trouble as a result -- he and "five of his businesses filed separate petitions to reorganize in U.S. Bankruptcy Court." No bankruptcy petition has been filed for Pacifica Hospital, and Zinngrabe wants to sell a senior-care facility located near the hospital and use that money to repay his other business debts. The only problem, the Register reported, is that the loan agreement on the senior-care facility would penalize Zinngrabe for paying off the loan early. Zinngrabe has asked the bankruptcy court "to erase" the penalty provision, but he is facing opposition from the creditor, Pacific Mutual Life Insurance. Meanwhile, PMLI has made clear that "it will agree to let the other Zinngrabe businesses pump cash into the hospital." The Register noted that Pacifica "expects to lose $435,000 from August to December" of this year (9/8).