Mission Community Hospital to be Sold

Mission Community Hospital will be sold to Long Beach-based Deanco Healthcare LLC over the next three years. The acquisition will occur in a three-step process, the hospital announced. The planned ownership change is an attempt to continue and grow the hospital’s services, which were threatened by the recession. “If we had the investments to build out the space and secure the services, then we would actually be able to provide more to the community,” said Heidi Lennartz, CEO of the 145-bed hospital. “We were just very cash strapped. I think the impact of federal and state funding reductions and unfunded mandates have really had an effect on our revenue over the last 10 years.” The partnership with the privately held limited liability company, which became effective June 1, will begin with consulting services, progress into a management agreement and end with the transfer of the hospital’s assets. The company has committed to retaining the hospital’s management team, medical staff, employees and services. After the completed transfer, the hospital will lose its non-profit status. Lennartz said the hospital’s board of directors decided a couple of years ago to start searching for a new owner and eventually considered four candidates. Deanco Healthcare LLC was chosen because of its willingness to maintain and build on the hospital strengths, she added. “They weren’t going to deconstruct the services and the service levels that were already here,” Lennartz said. “They were committed to maintaining the existing services and then building upon those.” Included in the planned acquisition is the hospital’s San Fernando campus, which houses a community dental clinic and a diabetes education and prevention project. Future development at the hospital’s main campus includes expansion of its senior services and its orthopedic and spinal surgery, Lennartz said. Mission Community Hospital was founded in 1974. It was the first hospital in Los Angeles County to complete its seismic-retrofit project in 2002 after the Northridge earthquake.