Patrick Soon-Shiong, MD, the billionaire owner of the Los Angeles Times, has purchased a Los Angeles hospital out of bankruptcy for $135 million.
Dr. Soon-Shiong acquired St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles from El Segundo, Calif.-based Verity Health. Verity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018 and closed St. Vincent Medical Center in January.
Under the purchase agreement, Dr. Soon-Shiong will take over the state of California's lease obligations at St. Vincent. In March, the state used emergency COVID-19 funding to lease St. Vincent. The state reopened the facility, now called the Los Angeles Surge Hospital, through a partnership with Los Angeles County, Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente and San Francisco-based Dignity Health.
Dr. Soon-Shiong will use other buildings on the St. Vincent campus to conduct COVID-19 research.
"St. Vincent is Los Angeles' oldest hospital with a storied history of innovation and caring for the poor," Dr. Soon-Shiong said. "Through the acquisition of this closed campus, we can ensure an ongoing legacy of preparedness against viral threats such as COVID-19."
St. Vincent is the second hospital Verity has sold this month. On April 9, the health system announced it would sell St. Francis Medical Center in Lynnwood, Calif., to Prime Healthcare Services, a for-profit hospital operator based in Ontario, Calif.
More articles on healthcare industry transactions:
Advocate Aurora Health to sell 2 Illinois hospitals for $190M
North Carolina health systems call off partnership talks
Kootenai Health acquires 2 hospitals from Essentia Health