Orange-based St. Joseph Health System soon will be the sole hospital operator in Humboldt County, a region considered the birthplace of its healthcare ministry.
St. Joseph signed a definitive agreement earlier this month to buy General Hospital, a 79-bed facility in Eureka, from Province Healthcare Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed; the purchase is scheduled to be completed in the fourth quarter, subject to regulatory approval.
St. Joseph also owns St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka. That 140-bed facility is the only other hospital in Eureka, which has 28,600 inhabitants and is 75 miles south of the California-Oregon border. St. Joseph also has a 46-bed hospital in Fortuna, St. Joseph Home Care and various community clinics, making up its Humboldt County region.
The main impetus for the acquisition was seismic retrofitting requirements at St. Joseph-Eureka, said Laurie Watson Stone, a hospital spokeswoman. General Hospital will be used to supplement patient care while the St. Joseph-Eureka facility gets upgrades to comply with new California earthquake safety standards.
“The investment required to make both facilities compliant would be enormous,” said Mike Purvis, St. Joseph-Humboldt County’s chief executive, in a release. “And trying to continue to provide patient care among all the construction would be extremely difficult, if not impossible.”
General Hospital eventually will be converted to outpatient services or other uses when St. Joseph’s retrofit is done, Purvis said.
General Hospital employs about 325 people. There could be job losses, but officials indicated it was too early to give a specific number. Watson Stone said the health system is one of the larger employers in Eureka, with around 1,100 people on the payroll there.
A Province Healthcare spokeswoman was not available for comment. Province, a public company based in suburban Nashville, Tenn., owns or leases 15 general acute-care hospitals in nine states with a total of 1,323 licensed beds, mainly in rural communities.
But Sheryl Skolnick, senior analyst and managing director with Robertson Stephens in New York, said it probably made more sense for General Hospital to be owned by St. Joseph, rather than Province, because of the former’s history in Humboldt County. Skolnick mentioned sentimental issues: St. Joseph-Eureka was the start of the Orange-based Sisters of St. Joseph’s healthcare ministry 80 years ago.
