Via: Whittier Daily News

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Friday, July 17, gave his conditional approval to the sale of St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood to Prime Healthcare.

The announcement comes about a week after a health care workers union filed a formal objection with Becerra — whose office must approve the sale —calling for him to reject the offer, saying the sale is “not in the public interest” and likely to have a “negative impact on the availability and accessibility of health care in the community.”

SEIU-UHW representative Steve Trossman alleged that even with the conditions Becerra attached to the sale, including maintaining or improving care in all areas of the hospital, “we do not think a hospital chain with Prime Healthcare’s record … is the right buyer for this critical safety net hospital that serves 85,000 patients a year and has one of the busiest emergency trauma centers in Los Angeles County.”

Trossman countered that Prime “is simply the wrong buyer for this hospital, and a sale to Prime could rip a hole in L.A. County’s healthcare system at a time when we need it to be at its best.”

SEIU-UHW contends that Prime has a history of allegations involving Medicare fraud, unnecessary hospitalizations, purposely misdiagnosing patients, and eliminating essential services like cancer and maternity.

Prime responded that the union’s allegations were “unfortunate and untrue.”

St. Francis — which bills itself as the largest health care facility serving southeast Los Angeles County — treats about 80,000 emergency room patients per year.