Prime Healthcare turns tail on Daughters of Charity purchase

Prime Healthcare Services had said they would purchase the 6 Daughters of Charity hospitals including St. Louise in Gilroy. On Tuesday they did an about face saying they will not abide by the Attorney General Kamala Harris’ conditions.

The AG’s conditions were about maintaining the current level of care for 10 years after the take over.

Kamala Harris released this statement on the about face today, “The Daughters of Charity health facilities and the emergency, trauma and surgical services, among others that they provide, are essential to the communities who rely on them. Following an in-depth review by independent health care consultants, 44 hours of public meetings and review of 14,000 comments from concerned community members, I imposed conditions to ensure the continuity of these health care services, including that the most essential health care services remain in place for ten years. In December of last year, the independent health care consultants recommended the ten-year conditions and Prime was notified at that time. Now, after two and a half months, Prime is saying these conditions are a deal breaker.

Prime is choosing to walk away from this transaction after publicly stating that it had no issue with the ten-year conditions and intended not to close any of the hospitals or end essential services. By walking away, Prime is confirming many of the concerns heard at multiple community meetings that the continuity of vital healthcare services in these communities is not its priority.”

News Channel 5 received this statement from the Daughters of Charity over this latest snag in their efforts continue to operate, “We are disappointed that Prime Healthcare has decided not to go forward with the purchase of our hospitals. We strongly disagree with Prime’s position on the Attorney General conditions. We are confident that Prime could successfully turn around the DCHS hospitals. We remain committed to finding the best solution for our patients, communities we serve, physicians, employees, retirees and creditors. We recognize that time is of the essence as we navigate these challenging financial obstacles. Over the coming days, we have difficult decisions to make and we will communicate those decisions after we have a chance to consult with our advisors, boards of directors and the Daughters of Charity.”