Verity Health System (formerly Daughters of Charity Health System, or DCHS) was a healthcare organization based in
Redwood City, California, United States, that operated six hospitals across
California with approximately 8,000 associates and physicians.
History
The
Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul
The Company of the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul ( la, Societas Filiarum Caritatis a Sancto Vincentio de Paulo), commonly called the Daughters of Charity or Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent De Paul, is a Society of Apostoli ...
founded the Los Angeles Infirmary, later the
St. Vincent Medical Center, in 1856.
Their hospitals were originally sponsored by the Western Province of the Daughters of Charity and were part of the Daughters of Charity National Health System, now
Ascension. In 1995, they withdrew from the national system to merge with
Catholic Healthcare West (CHW). In 2002, the hospitals withdrew from CHW to become the regional Daughters of Charity Health System.
(CHW became Dignity Health.)
Facing financial strain, DCHS sought proposals to purchase the system. An affiliation with Ascension Health did not result in a merger.
In 2014, the Daughters of Charity agreed to sell DCHS to
Prime Healthcare Services for $843 million. Prime abandoned the acquisition on March 10, 2015, citing restrictions that
California Attorney General Kamala Harris placed on the sale.
Later in 2015, DCHS announced a deal where they would become managed by a healthcare subsidiary of
New York City-based
BlueMountain Capital Management and become Verity Health System, a secular nonprofit. Under the deal, BlueMountain agreed to Harris's condition that all but one DCHS hospital be run as an acute care facility for at least ten years. In addition, BlueMountain would have the option to purchase Verity and convert it to a for-profit entity after three years.
In 2017,
NantWorks, the holding company of
Patrick Soon-Shiong, bought a majority stake in the management company from BlueMountain.
Unable to turn around its financial issues, Verity Health System filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 31, 2018. In 2019,
Santa Clara County purchased
O'Connor Hospital
O'Connor Hospital is a hospital in San Jose, California, part of the Santa Clara County Health System. Located in the West San Carlos neighborhood of San Jose, O'Connor Hospital is one of the oldest hospitals in Santa Clara County, founded in 188 ...
in
San Jose and St. Louise Regional Hospital in
Gilroy for $235 million. KPC Group agreed to purchase
Seton Medical Center and Seton Coastside in Northern California for a combined $70 million,
St. Francis Medical Center in
Lynwood for $420 million, and
St. Vincent Medical Center in
Los Angeles for $120 million. However, the sale was not completed by the court-mandated deadline of December 5.
On January 6, 2020, Verity announced the closure of
St. Vincent Medical Center.
In March, Verity indicated plans to close
Seton Medical Center.
Days later, the
San Mateo County Board of Supervisors approved $20 million over four years to help keep the hospital open.
On March 19,
Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the
State of California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
would lease beds at both Seton and St. Vincent for three months as part of its emergency response to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
On April 1, the bankruptcy court approved the sale of St. Vincent to the
Chan Soon-Shiong Family Foundation for $135 million. On April 9, Verity announced the sale of
St. Francis Medical Center to
Prime Healthcare Services for $350 million. On April 22, the court approved the sale of
Seton Medical Center and Seton Coastside to
AHMC Healthcare AHMC (Advanced Hospital Management Corporation) is a for-profit privately held hospital corporation based in the Greater San Gabriel Valley of California. Jonathan Wu is the founder and chairman of AHMC.
AHMC operates over 1,200 beds at its seven ...
for $40 million.
References
External links
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Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2018
Hospital networks in the United States
Hospitals in California
Catholic hospital networks in the United States