Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/1362166
10 CFO / FINANCE Los Angeles hospital closes after 74 years By Ayla Ellison O lympia Medical Center, a 204-bed hospital in Los Angeles, closed March 31 at 11:59 p.m. Employees found out the hospital, which opened 74 years ago, was closing Dec. 31, when they arrived at work to find a piece of paper on the door informing them that the facility was shutting down at the end of March. Aer the closure was announced, there were protests; healthcare workers signed petitions; and local government officials wrote letters in an attempt to persuade the hospital's own- er, Irvine, Calif.-based Alecto Healthcare Services, to keep it open, according to the Los Angeles Times. Alecto, a private company, sold the hospi- tal in January to UCLA Health, which is leasing the facility back to Alecto while it winds down operations. Details of the trans- action are not publicly available. UCLA Health told Becker's Hospital Review it is preparing to renovate the facility and exploring services to offer. "e initial plans will include exploration of inpatient and outpatient mental health services — a dire and unmet need in Los Angeles County with few and shrinking pro- viders of inpatient care," the health system stated to Becker's Hospital Review. e additional campus in the Mid-Wilshire area will allow UCLA Health to expand healthcare services and add hundreds of healthcare jobs in Los Angeles County, the health system stated. Alecto's decision to close the hospital has prompted concern from the local commu- nity. Ninety percent of the hospital's pa- tients are covered by Medicare, and near- ly 40 percent are Black, according to the Times. An Alecto representative said at a virtual hearing in January that Olympia Medical Center had not been busy and did not offer enough services to justify keeping the facility open. When the hospital closed, 451 employees lost their jobs, according to a notice filed with the state. n Optum to buy 715-physician group in Massachusetts By Alia Paavola U nitedHealth subsidiary Optum signed a definitive agreement to acquire Atrius Health, a 715-physi- cian group based in Newton, Mass., according to The Boston Globe. Optum said the agreement was signed March 1 after United- Health's board approved the transaction. Atrius' board also unanimously approved the deal. The deal is subject to approval from Massachusetts' Health Policy Commission, the Department of Public Health and the Federal Trade Commission. The deal would expand Optum's presence in Massachusetts. The organization had previously acquired Worcester, Mass.- based Reliant Medical Group in April 2018. Optum reportedly had been interested in purchasing Atrius, which has 30 locations in Massachusetts, for a few years and submitted a bid for it in 2019 when the medical group was looking for a partner. In 2019, Atrius decided to remain independent. However, Atrius said it decided to re- ignite potential partnership talks again due to the pressures of the pandemic. "We looked at many alternatives and chose [Optum] be- cause of cultural alignment, the benefit we could provide for patients, the stability it could provide for our practice, and the help we can provide to the commonwealth as it pertains to managing medical spend," Atrius President and CEO Steven Strongwater, MD, told the Boston Business Journal. n Sanford no longer pursuing Intermountain merger By Morgan Haefner S anford Health is no longer pursuing a merger with Intermountain Healthcare, a Sanford spokesperson confirmed with Becker's Hospital Review March 15. Bill Gassen, the CEO of Sanford Health, told Inforum the Sioux Falls, S.D.-based health system hasn't resumed merger discussions with Intermountain Healthcare since they were suspended in December 2020. At the end of 2020, Sanford indefinitely suspend- ed discussions for its planned merger with Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare because of the abrupt exit of Sanford's longtime president and CEO, Kelby Krabbenhoft. Mr. Gassen, who took over Sanford's CEO role Nov. 24, told Inforum he will focus growth and investments in the states where the health system already operates: North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. Mr. Gassen told the news outlet his decision to no longer pursue the proposed merger comes as he prioritizes Sanford's patients during the COVID-19 pandemic. "Right now we can't afford to take our eye off the ball in regards to fighting the pandemic," he told Inforum. Becker's Hospital Review reached out to Intermoun- tain for comment. A spokesperson from Intermountain said nothing has changed since the health systems announced they were indefinitely suspending merger talks in December 2020. n