Riverside’s Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center is sold

Parkview Community Hospital Medical Center in Riverside will soon have a new owner.

The facility, which for 60 years has been an independent nonprofit hospital, will be acquired by AHMC Healthcare Inc., which runs hospitals in Los Angeles and Orange counties.

Parkview, a 193-bed acute care hospital with a newly constructed emergency department, employs 1,200 workers.

The agreement took effect Friday, July 20, but is subject to approval from the California Attorney General, which is expected toward the end of the year. No sale price was included in the announcement.

“We are not disclosing purchase price at this time although the transaction involves cash consideration, assumption of debt, a donation to the Parkview Foundation that addresses the social determinants of health care and an investment commitment,” said Eric Tuckman, senior advisor to the AHMC chairman.

Parkview Chief Executive Officer Steve Popkin said Friday that there will be no changes in service.

“There should be no obvious difference,” he said. “The hope is they will put the resources into it so services and facilities are enhanced.”

Parkview officials announced in October that they would be looking for a buyer.

“We started with a solicitation of interest to 19 different organizations all that potentially could be a good fit,” Popkin said. “We ended with AHMC being the best fit.”

AHMC and its affiliated hospitals form a regional network of hospitals with more than 1,000 beds.

Its hospitals are Garfield Medical Center, Monterey Park Hospital, Anaheim Regional Medical Center, Whittier Hospital Medical Center and Greater El Monte Community Hospital. The organization also is associated with San Gabriel Valley Medical Center and Alhambra Hospital Medical Center.

“Parkview serves the same segment of the community as our other facilities,” Tuckman said. “We have extensive experience as a managed care friendly organization, including serving the MediCal population in our communities.”

Parkview has seen a bankruptcy, a union battle and state investigation in recent years.

More than 500 employees at Parkview ratified their first contract with the hospital in November, nearly four years after they first voted to unionize.

Employees voted to join the Service Employees International Union – United Healthcare Workers West in 2014. The hospital contested that vote, leading to a court battle that ended in November 2016 with the hospital forced to recognize the union.

“We look forward to working with AHMC to ensure Parkview Community Hospital has the resources it needs to provide the highest quality care to the community and protect the jobs of caregivers,” union spokesman Sean Wherley said.

Wherley said workers at three other AMHC hospitals are members of the union “and we have a good working relationship with the leadership.”

In 2015, state health officials found two problems for the hospital to correct, though they did not find Parkview at fault for an incident in which maggots were found on a patient.

According to a state report, investigators concluded that the hospital failed to report a power outage that affected the care of several patients on ventilators. State officials also found a set of fire doors that didn’t completely close, which could be a safety issue if a fire broke out.

The union’s complaint said a hospital worker found maggots in a patient’s mouth that February, but the report didn’t mention the incident because it only discusses issues the hospital is required to fix. A state public health spokesman wrote in an email at the time that the hospital was not found in violation regarding the maggots.

In 2002, the hospital filed for bankruptcy protection, a result of six years of losses compounded by problems with federal regulators. It emerged from bankruptcy the following year. In 2010, the hospital got a U.S. Housing and Urban Development loan, which enabled it to pay off a lender, a move that avoided foreclosure.

Parkview joins a long line of independent hospitals that are becoming affiliated with larger chains.

Riverside Community Hospital, which has 373 beds, is owned by North Carolina-based Hospital Partners of America. Kaiser Permanente represents many area hospitals. And in San Bernardino, for example, both of the city’s hospitals are part of San Francisco-based Dignity Health.

“There are fewer and fewer not-for-profit hospitals,” Popkin said. “They have become increasingly rare over the years.”