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Kelsay says HCA decided to shut down the hospital after losing $12 million in 2002 and $16 million in 2003. Between San Jose Medical Center and Regional, 2003 losses came to $40 million, she says.

During that time, health care costs rose 23% while reimbursement for Medi-Cal and other government programs – which make up 75% of the hospital’s business — increased only 4%, she said.

Meanwhile, HCA has petitioned the county to allow the trauma services to be transferred to Regional, which doesn’t have that capabiity, Kelsay says. Some modifications were being sped up for that possibility, including the installation of a $1 million cardiac catheterization lab, she says.

“To justify operating in this region, we had to minimize our losses,” Kelsay says of the closure, adding that HCA has already committed to a $61 million expansion of Regional. “Looking at another three years where it wasn’t going to get any better, we simply had no choice.”

Hospitals closing this year include: Santa Teresita Hospital in Duarte; Century City Hospital in Los Angeles; Monrovia Community Hospital; Elastar Community Hospital in Los Angeles; Northridge Hospital Medical Center in Van Nuys; and Angels Hospital in Rancho Cucamonga.

For nurses and other health care workers at ailing hospitals, there are some bright spots. Tenet HealthCare, for example, said it would attempt to sell 19 hospitals in the state to buyers who agreed to retain staff, services, and existing union contracts, which is being done with the sale of Midway Hospital Medical Center in Los Angeles.

A group formed by seven physicians associated with Midway recently reached an agreement to purchase the facility and its equipment from Tenet for $10 million.

The group, Physicians of Midway Inc., plans to keep the 225-bed hospital operating as a full-service acute care facility with a 24-hour emergency room, says Shahram Ravan, MD, the group’s president, noting that some real estate developers had expressed interest in buying the hospital for the land value.

The group also promised to offer employment to “substantially all” of the hospital’s employees in good standing and to honor any existing labor agreements.

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