St. Francis: Prime Has Withdrawn Bid to Buy Hospital Chain

March 2015

Prime Healthcare has pulled their offer to buy St. Francis and the Daughters of Charity Health System. The move comes after the California Attorney General held statewide hearings on the sale of the hospital, which resulted in an approval of the sale to the for-profit Prime Healthcare Systems under strict conditions. The St. Francis Registered Nurses Association (SFRNA) officers traveled up and down the state to attend these hearings and testify about what a sale to Prime could mean for patients at St. Francis Medical Center (SFMC).

Attorney General Kamala Harris put tough conditions on the sale for Prime to follow, to ensure the same level of service to the community for at least ten years, and to guarantee our pension and other benefits. Prime was unwilling to meet those conditions.

"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,” said the office of Attorney General Harris in a statement released after Prime withdrew its bid.

SFRNA leadership stand firm in our belief that Prime Healthcare was never the best choice. The Attorney General’s conditions placed on Prime and Prime’s withdrawal of their bid demonstrate that.

Daughters of Charity must now determine what to do next. We continue to urge them to choose Blue Wolf. We will keep you updated.

For more information, see the California Healthline post or LA Business Journal article on the Prime bid.

On a different topic, SFMC management has notified SFRNA leadership of their intent to cease staffing the nursery unit. SFRNA will meet with the FLC Nursery RNs on Wednesday, March 11 from 0630-1100 in the FLC Classroom.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Sandi Marques, UNAC/UHCP Staff Representative @ 909-344-0921 or sandi.marques@unacuhcp.org
Scott Byington, SFRNA President @ 310-428-2307
Edwin Guardado, SFRNA Vice President @ 562-659-1649
Marlene Castanon, SFRNA Treasurer @ 323-867-3005
Rosa Carcamo, SFRNA Secretary @ 323-216-7013