State Will Require Universal Health Services To Keep Open San Luis Obispo Hospitals for Five Years After Sale
Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) last week said that Universal Health Services would be required to keep French Hospital Medical Center and Arroyo Grande Community Hospital open for at least five years after their purchase as a condition of the $120 million sale, the San Luis Obispo Tribune reports. Lockyer's involvement is necessary because the sale would transform the two Vista Health system not-for-profit hospitals into for-profit hospitals. Universal and Vista signed an asset purchase agreement in April that stated that the hospitals would remain open for five years, according to Dick Wright, vice president of development at Universal. However, at a recent hearing in San Luis Obispo County, Wright requested that the requirement be amended to two years and that Lockyer permit Universal to close French in the event that it became financially unfeasible to keep it open and to consolidate services at Arroyo Grande. The sale also is contingent upon Vista's attempts to reorganize as part of ongoing bankruptcy proceedings (Roberts, San Luis Obispo Tribune, 12/2).
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