If Daughters of Charity Health System — a six-hospital network based in Los Altos Hills, Calif. — is not sold to Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Services, it is unlikely that facilities will close anytime in the near future, financial and legal experts in the healthcare industry told the San Jose Mercury News.
Rather, other buyers would come to the table, or Daughters of Charity would file for bankruptcy and sell its assets to the highest bidders, who would then operate the hospitals, experts told the San Jose Mercury News.
Daughters of Charity President and CEO Robert Issai agreed that the hospitals wouldn't immediately close, according to the report, but told the San Jose Mercury News, "It will be a meltdown situation. We'll take a critical look at services that cost us the most money."
California Attorney General Kamala Harris now has until Feb. 20 to decide on the proposed sale.
The board of directors of Daughters of Charity Health System agreed to sell the system's hospitals to Prime Healthcare in October 2014. The deal has been a controversial one, with SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West strongly opposing the transaction.
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