The purchasing bids are in but no decision has been made by the powers that be with the Daughters of Charity Health Care System as to who will be the new owner of their chain of six medical facilities, according to DCHS spokesperson Kel Kanady.
The deadline for prospective buyers to submit offers was Sept. 12. Kanady declined to provide the names of those bidders nor how many bids were made since the entire process has been kept “confidential” since the DCHS announced they were selling in January. The Daughters’ health system includes Saint Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy, which serves the entire South Santa Clara Valley area and is up for sale along with the entire DCHS package.
In a Sept. 5 CNBC business wire report, DCHS said there are seven prospective buyers, but did not identify any of those parties.
Registered nurse Lisabeth Jacobs, communications specialist for the National Nurses United, said she heard there are “five potential buyers that have put in their bids.” The nurses have been demanding that “any change in ownership include a pledge to keep the hospitals as full-service facilities.”
Kanady said there is no timetable for when a decision will be made, but she shared that the board of directors will not just go with the highest bidder and will use more than one criteria in determining the best suitor for the health care system.
Among the criteria outlined by DCHS are the ability to invest in capital improvements at the aging facilities, a reasonable timeline to close the sale, ability to continue to meet the health care needs of the surrounding communities, a track record of successfully running hospital systems and avoiding any bankruptcy proceedings.
“We are trying to preserve healthcare services and jobs in the communities we serve and, at the same time, we are trying to protect the pensions of those who have faithfully served us and those communities,” DCHS President Robert Issai said.
DCHS nurses’ demands include that the buyer acquire all six hospitals rather than “breaking the system into pieces could leave some communities at risk,” keep the hospitals open and maintain all services.
Along with SLRH, the DCHS system includes O’Connor Hospital in San Jose, Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Seton Coastside in Moss Beach and St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood. The county’s bid to purchase only SLRH and O’Connor goes against DCHS’s goal of selling all six at once.
The nurses—who back in June staged a vigil in front of SLRH as well as Seton Medical Center to reinforce their voice in the sale—also want the new owner to hire all existing RNs, keep all retirement promises and respect their collective bargaining rights as part of the sale, according to Jacobs.
A particular emphasis for DCHS is to find a buyer who can keep the hospitals operating without jeopardizing the pensions of current and retired employees, according to the Sept. 5 release.
“It’s vitally important to take care of employees—both union and non-union—who could lose all or part of their pensions if the right buyer is not selected,” Issai said.
DCHS staff have said any sale of the hospitals will be subject to review by the California Attorney General’s office.
SLRH serves South Santa Clara County and northern San Benito County. The nonprofit hospital has 96 licensed beds, according to DCHS. It employs 554 people, in addition to more than 200 physicians. Its emergency room served 26,000 patients in 2012.
