Prime Healthcare Services, the California-based,
for-profit chain of 18 mostly West Coast hospitals and which recently acquired
Roxborough Memorial Hospital, says it also plans to acquire 156-bed Lower Bucks
Hospital in Bristol.
Prime will spend "at a minimum" $10
million for "needed capital improvements," company spokesman Edward
Barrera told me, correcting the company's earlier statement that it would
invest "up to" $10 million.
Prime, owned by chief executive Dr. Prem Reddy,
has also made $3 million in working capital finance available to Lower Bucks,
and will "honor all contracts, liabilities, and union agreements,"
which cover nurses and maintenance workers. Total staff includes 400 doctors
and 1,400 "employees and volunteers."
Prime specializes in hospitals with
"financial problems" that treat mostly poor patients and rely heavily
on government reimbursement, said Albert Mezzaroba, the Lower Bucks CEO who
closed the deal. He told me the chain has a history of cutting expenses
without cancelling medical programs, and gives special attention to bill
collection. Mezzaroba said he wasn't sure Prime's long-term plans for him.
Lower Bucks filed for bankruptcy protection in
2010, and exited earlier this year after State Sen. Tommy Thompson convinced
the legislature to use $14 million in casino table games profit payments from
the Parx casino to fund part of the hospital's bond debt. SSG Group of West
Conshohocken and the Saul Ewing law firm advised Lower Bucks.
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