Local residents voted to sell bankrupt Surprise Valley Hospital in Cedarville, Calif., to a 34-year-old entrepreneur who runs two labs in Denver, according to a California Healthline report.
Here are five things to know:
1. Surprise Valley Health Care District, which operates the 26-bed rural hospital, filed for Chapter 9 bankruptcy Jan. 4. Local residents on June 5 agreed to sell the company to Beau Gertz, who owns lab-testing and nutraceutical companies in Denver, including CadiraMD and SeroDynamics.
2. As part of the deal, Mr. Gertz will take over the hospital's debt, which is at least $4 million, according to the report.
3. Bankruptcy court documents show another out-of-town investor managed the hospital for a short time and then "abandoned" it, the report states. Now, Mr. Gertz's offer to buy the hospital is able to move forward after being accepted by the district hospital board and approved by a federal bankruptcy judge and local residents.
4. Resident voters had different opinions about the issue, with some seeing Mr. Gertz's offer as the answer to help the hospital stay afloat, and others expressing skepticism about his plans and their possibility for success. Ultimately, nearly 84 percent of those who went to the polls voted in favor of the sale.
Bonnie Madrigal, 26, a former certified nursing assistant at the hospital, told California Healthline: "Now that I have children, keeping the hospital is the most important thing to me. I know how much improvement the hospital needs, but once I listened to Beau, I heard hope. I feel like with Beau, the debt is going to be off our shoulders, and we'll work together as a community to make things better."
Ray March, 83, of Cedarville, told the publication: "We felt that to vote yes would be to bail out the [hospital] board and forgive it for all the mistakes it's made."
5. Mr. Gertz has told residents his plans include a "wellness center" offering vitamin infusions and genetic testing, among other health services, as well as keeping the hospital's nursing home wing open and preserving its emergency room and ambulance services, according to the report. He also has proposed billing insurers for lab tests through the hospital, even for patients who receive them from outside the facility via telemedicine. Such practices, some experts contend, according to the report, are legally questionable and have resulted in lawsuits and government scrutiny in certain areas. Mr. Gertz, who has not faced such legal action, did not respond to California Healthline's request for comment.
Access the full California Healthline report here.
Morgan Haefner contributed to this report.
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