A California turnaround specialist has completed its $18 million acquisition of Southern Regional Medical Center and named a new executive to head the 331-bed Riverdale hospital.
In addition to buying Southern Regional, Prime Healthcare Foundation also acquired Spivey Station, an ambulatory care center in Jonesboro. The entities retain their non-profit status.
Charlotte W. Dupré will serve as interim chief executive of the hospital. Dupré who had been leading the transition team recently served as CEO of Central Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Miss.
The deal also calls for Prime Healthcare to spend $50 million on equipment and improvements over the next five years. Southern Regional is one of 11 hospitals in the Prime Healthcare Foundation, the public charity arm of Prime Healthcare Services, a national network of 42 hospitals.
Southern Regional was on the brink of closing last summer when Prime Healthcare stepped in to buy the medical complex. Last June, county officials approved giving the hospital money to tide it over as it searched for a new owner. The year before, county taxpayers approved a $50 million bailout to help the hospital. The hospital filed for bankruptcy as part of the deal.
In the past two decades, Southern Regional has seen dramatic socioeconomic changes in the county that left it with a growing number of patients who can't pay. Clayton was hit harder than most metro counties by the recession and housing bust. Meanwhile, new competition and changes in the way medical care is dispensed and paid for now squeezed Southern Regional's revenues. It had posted annual losses since 2007.
Southern Regional Medical Center is one of the top employers in Clayton County. It has 1,550 employees and physicians and sees nearly 74,000 patients a year. The Clayton medical complex joins a medical conglomerate that includes 42 hospitals in 14 states with nearly 42,000 employees and physicians.
Prime Healthcare rescues financially distressed hospitals. It has revived 38 hospitals nationwide and saved 35,000 jobs since 2005, according to its website. It is the largest minority-owned hospital system in America, the website also noted.
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