California Attorney General issued the following announcement on June 4.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta today conditionally approved the sale of Glendora Oaks Behavioral Health Hospital (Glendora Oaks) by Prime Healthcare Foundation, Inc. (Prime) to CHLB, LLC (CHLB). Glendora Oaks is an acute psychiatric hospital with 21 licensed beds that provides inpatient and outpatient behavioral health services to residents of Azusa, Baldwin Park, El Monte, Glendora, Pomona, and other surrounding areas. CHLB will pay Prime approximately $24.25 million to purchase Glendora Oaks and will continue to operate the hospital as an acute psychiatric hospital for at least ten years. After a thorough review of the proposed transaction, Attorney General Bonta determined that, with conditions, the sale of Glendora Oaks to CHLB will be an improvement for the community, as the facility will now be operated by an entity more experienced in managing acute psychiatric hospitals.
“It is part of the job of the Attorney General to ensure that the sale of a healthcare facility like Glendora Oaks is in the best interest of Californians, particularly the community served by the hospital,” said Attorney General Bonta. “Today, after thorough review of the proposed transaction, including listening to the opinions of the public, we’ve conditionally approved the sale of Glendora Oaks to CHLB. While we believe the sale will ultimately be beneficial to the people of east LA County, our conditions allow DOJ to monitor and make sure the community's needs are being met.”
In April 2021, during the review of the proposed transaction, DOJ held a virtual public hearing. During public comment, safety issues related to Glendora Oaks’ current owner, Prime, were raised, including concerns related to inadequate security and training for staff, as well as structural safety issues. The Attorney General has addressed these concerns in his conditions by requiring a comprehensive safety and staffing audit, annual reporting on safety and staffing concerns, and better training. The consensus from stakeholders and the public throughout the review process was that CHLB will bring valuable experience into managing an acute psychiatric hospital like Glendora Oaks. CHLB has also proposed converting 23 currently dormant acute hospital beds to acute psychiatric beds – doubling the current number of psychiatric beds available at Glendora Oaks.
CHLB operates a general acute care hospital that provides inpatient and outpatient care at its three locations, including its main campus in Long Beach. The Attorney General’s conditional approval will require CHLB to:
- Continue to operate Glendora Oaks as an acute psychiatric hospital for ten years and maintain existing services, such as the minimum number of beds, for ten years;
- Provide charity care in an amount equal to about $45,664.02 per year for six years and community benefits in an amount equal to about $10,000 per year for six years;
- Take certain steps to inform patients and their representatives of the Financial Assistance Policy;
- Conduct adequate staffing and training in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements;
- Prohibit discrimination on the basis of protected personal characteristics;
- Prepare, in consultation with employees and other relevant stakeholders, a comprehensive audit and evaluation of patient and employee safety conditions within one year of the closing date and annually report any safety incidents directly to DOJ for the next ten years; and
- Submit to DOJ an annual report on compliance with the conditions for the next 11 fiscal years.
- Is in the public interest;
- Is fair and reasonable to the nonprofit corporation;
- Is at fair market value;
- Involves any breach of trust;
- Creates a significant effect on the availability or accessibility of health care services; and/or
- Creates a significant effect on the availability and accessibility of cultural interests provided by the facility in the affected community.
Original source can be found here.