Daughters of Charity Sale to Prime Healthcare

[herring_RN]

Consumer Watchdog Calls on Attorney General to Approve Daughters of Charity Sale to Prime Healthcare

Jan. 5, 2015

In order to keep a critical local hospital open in an underserved community, Consumer Watchdog joined neighborhood activists and the California Nurses Association in supporting a bid by Prime Healthcare to purchase Daughters of Charity Health System. Consumer Watchdog spoke at a public hearing organized by the Attorney General's office, at St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, California.

"Given St. Francis' critical role in providing quality healthcare for this service area, without this sale, this community will be at risk of losing key services that are essential for the low-income, uninsured, and under-insured patient population," said Michael Kapp, a consumer advocate with Consumer Watchdog. "Prime Healthcare's bid should be approved to ensure that this community doesn't lose a desperately needed healthcare facility."...

... Daughters of Charity Health Systems (DCHS) owns and operates six hospitals throughout California, but is losing $10 million a month and is on the verge of bankruptcy. After six months of an intense bidding process, DCHS approved the sale to Prime Healthcare, which promised to keep all six hospitals open, retain all staff, spend $150 million in capital improvements, absorb all debt, and protect pensions of current and former employees.

This bid was approved by the California Nurses Association, SEIU Local 121RN, and the California Hospitals Association. DCHS President and CEO Robert Issai said that Prime Healthcare was "far and away the best candidate." The sale requires the approval of the Attorney General.

However, SEIU-UHW and its president, Dave Regan, have fought Prime's bid, putting the sale in jeopardy and moving the hospitals closer to bankruptcy and closure...

... Consumer Watchdog noted that the majority of St. Francis' service area are designated "Health Professional Shortage Areas"...

... The Attorney General must reject, approve, or impose conditions on the deal by February 6^th...

Read more: Consumer Watchdog Calls on Attorney General to Approve Daughters of Charity Sale to Prime Healthcare Bad Request

[DoGoodThenGo]

As one who still can sit down and weep over the closing of Saint Vincent's Hospital here in NYC hope the Sisters make this happen.

This is the alternative: Sales at complex on old St. Vincent's Hospital site defy high-end condo glut | Crain's New York Business

[herring_RN, ASN, BSN]

As one who still can sit down and weep over the closing of Saint Vincent's Hospital here in NYC hope the Sisters make this happen.

This is the alternative: Sales at complex on old St. Vincent's Hospital site defy high-end condo glut | Crain's New York Business

I remember that. It was so wrong.

St. Vincent's was the first hospital in Los Angeles.

The first kidney transplant in the state was done there when I was a nursing student.

The first open heart surgery West of the Mississippi was done there.

I think Prime will take over the hospitals. If so nurses will hold them to their promises.

They make big profits, and aren't worse than other for profit hospital chains. (In my opinion based on what nurses who work at one of their hospitals tell me)

[DoGoodThenGo]

When one by one the Catholic hospitals of NYC which by now had merged under the Saint Vincent's system began going under no one would touch them either. One was saved (Saint Vincent's Hospital of Richmond (Staten Island), after being purchased by the financially shaky Bayonne Hospital. In fact because no one else wanted St. V's of Richmond persons who wanted a stronger bidder simply had to hold their nose and swallow otherwise the place would have closed like the others.

Saint Vincent's Mid-Town (formerly Saint Clare's), Mary Immaculate, Saint John's, Cabrini, etc... all went bankrupt and shut down. All but Cabrini sites have been snatched up by various deep pocketed real estate families for development into luxury or market rate housing. The Cabrini property was purchased by Memorial Sloan-Kettering but nothing has come of it so far IIRC.

You would have thought Saint Vincent's in Greenwich Village, the only hospital on the West Side of Manhattan below the West 50's would have been taken by someone, but no; one by one the great and profitable hospital networks of NYC said "no". The only serious interest came from North Shore-LIJ who wanted to tear down the hospital and replace it with an Urgent Care space. That set off community alarms but in the end is *exactly* what happened. Saint Vincent's in the Village for all its history and excellent work closed and was replaced by an ambulatory care center across the street.

Truth be told healthcare in the USA has moved on from hospitals being able to run with a bunch of nuns, bake sales, and so forth. Healthcare is officially a serious business and for perhaps the first time in recent memory federal and local governments are saying no to bailing out places that are bleeding red ink.

Problems faced by the Daughters of Charity in California are the same as they and others face all over the USA. With dwindling numbers of Sisters you cannot staff a hospital full or mostly of dedicated servants. Charity care is all very well and many are devoted to providing, however nurses have bills to pay/mouths to feed so some balance must be reached.

Nursing and other staff made major wage concessions in an effort to keep St. Vincent's in Manhattan open, and it still wasn't enough.

One thing all these closures have in common is they provide charity care and or serve large demographics on Medicare/Medicaid, mainly minority, and or lower income ranges. Being labeled a hospital of last resort is almost the kiss of death as well paying/insured patients high tail it to other facilities. Again this is what happened to Saint Vincent's. For all the new wealth in The Village, Gramercy Park, Chelsea, etc... those households chose NYU, NYP, Mount Sinai, Lenox Hill instead.

Lenox Hill is an interesting case as it was near death's door about the same time as Saint Vincent's was Cheyne-stoking. Unlike the latter however Lenox Hill had a much different (wealthier) patient base and was purchased (for cash) by NS-LIJ shortly after Saint Vincent's began closing.

Federal and local governments along with communities talk about the importance of charity care/hospitals of last resort, but the funding tells a different story. The cuts to Medicare/Medicaid in particular are harming due to the large numbers from such populations these hospitals serve.

Politicians like to get involved (the California AG is running for a spot in Washington D.C.), but often leave a larger mess with their "solutions" and move on. Classic and recent case of this is Mayor Bill de Blasio of NYC. A man who got himself arrested when running for that office to "save" Long Island College Hospital. However after winning as time dragged on we heard a different story. Long tale short after years of court battles and millions spent things ended up *exactly* where they had been proposed from the start; the hospital closed, properties developed into market rate/luxury housing, and a promise of an urgent care facility with vague assurances of more *if* deemed necessary but stopping short of a full service hospital.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

How can a hospital be forced to stay open if it's losing money - just my conjecture, thinking aloud

[DoGoodThenGo]

How can a hospital be forced to stay open if it's losing money - just my conjecture, thinking aloud

Well apparently at least in NYS it can be done. Just "Google" Long Island College Hospital for a recent example.

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

I'm familiar with Seton, the Bay Area hospital that is part of this financially strapped DCHS based out of lush and swanky Los Altos Hills, CA. It is fair to say that the community-based facility's client base is an underserved population of mostly Filipino and Hispanic immigrant families in Daly City. The claim is that the closure would deprive the community of needed healthcare though there are other hospitals in the San Mateo County area and nearby San Francisco also has a larger network of safety net hospitals.

It sounds like the bids came from shady for profit corporations with Prime being the least of all evils but with a bad reputation for Medicare fraud in the past. The system was desperate enough to not care who is buying the property as long as the name of the hospitals do not change and the mission of serving the underserved is upheld which may mean keeping some sort of Catholic identity. Prime has bought many such struggling Catholic facilities in California and other states and has a history of not closing any one of them after being bought thus far.

I think the sale should proceed just for the mere fact that Bay Area nurses who work there depend on income in such an expensive area to live where finding another job could take months. There are also retirees from that system who depend on their pension from DCHS. They actually had a petition via change.org: https://www.change.org/p/kamala-harris-save-six-california-hospitals-by-urging-attorney-general-kamala-harris-to-approve-dchs-sale-to-prime-healthcare-5

[DoGoodThenGo]

Apparently the Daughters of Charity play hard ball:

Daughters of Charity Health System sues union that opposed sale to Prime Healthcare - San Jose Mercury News

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

This sale went through and was approved by Kamala Harris. We'll see what happens with the hospitals as ownership of them changes to Prime. There are conditions on the transfer of ownership that Prime must adhere to for the next 10 years.

[DoGoodThenGo]

This sale went through and was approved by Kamala Harris. We'll see what happens with the hospitals as ownership of them changes to Prime. There are conditions on the transfer of ownership that Prime must adhere to for the next 10 years.

When did the sale actually take place? Last one heard/read was that Prime had not made a decision:

Prime time? Two weeks in, Prime yet to decide on Daughters deal - San Francisco Business Times

[Corey Narry, MSN, RN, NP]

It was news around here that the sale went through and I did see this press release: Attorney General Kamala D. Harris Issues Decision Approving Sale of Six Daughters of Charity Health Facilities | State of California - Department of Justice - Kamala D. Harris Attorney General.

However, Prime must not have liked the conditions and they have now backed out of the purchase:

Prime Healthcare rejects Daughters of Charity deal - San Jose Mercury News

Prime Healthcare pulls plug on Daughters of Charity deal - San Francisco Business Times

Back to zero, I guess.

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Prime Healthcare has been busy---buying another financially distressed Catholic hospital Mercy Suburban Hospital with large immigrant and underserved community in Norristown, PA; next towns over however are affluent.

They are up against a brand new hospital built in 2012: Einstein Medical Center Montgomery, located 1 mile away which has " Private rooms. Sleeper sofas for guests. Room service. Hotel-like amenities aimed at improving your medical care."

What surprised me in the announcement was that they would no have a Catholic affiliation---several sales in PA have required that Catholic identity be retained for X amount of years. Facility was an Osteopathic Hospital for over 30 yrs prior to Mercy's purchase.

March 2nd, 2015

Philadelphia Business Journal

John George

Mercy Suburban sold to for-profit hospital group

Prime Healthcare Services Inc., a California-based for-profit health system, entered into a deal Monday to buy Mercy Suburban Hospital from the Mercy Health System. The deal includes the related physician practices and ambulatory sites including Mercy Health Center at Plymouth Meeting Mall. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Prime Healthcare of Ontario, Calif., said it will invest $30 million in capital improvements at Mercy Suburban in East Norriton, Pa., over a five-year period following the close of the sale.

Mercy Suburban posted a $8.8 million loss in fiscal 2013, the most recent year for which financial information is available from the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.

The sale of the 126-bed hospital, which requires regulatory approval, is expected take about four to six months to close.

The health system said at the completion of the sale, Mercy Suburban will no longer be a Catholic hospital, nor have a Catholic affiliation and will not use the Mercy name.

[Faeriewand, ASN, RN]

Prime bought Paradise Valley Hospital in National City. It was an Adventist Hospital. They removed all pictures of Jesus and made many cuts. Some Adventist nurses had never called in sick. They lost all their sick leave and it went to zero. They had to earn it again. One OB nurse had over 800 hours she lost. Prime has made $26 million off of the hospital since purchase. You can check with the SEC. I heard they were buying 6 more hospitals. I hope they can keep their Catholic identity.