KPC must close deal by Sept. 30
September 04, 2012 4:58 PM
Diane Lee, Staff Writer

VICTORVILLE • The bankrupt Victor Valley Community Hospital is a step closer to new ownership, after the state’s Attorney General approved the sale to Riverside-based KPC Group.

After previously failing to close the sale, the medical group will have until Sept. 30 to seal a $33.8 million deal to buy Victorville’s financially-strapped hospital. KPC Executive Vice President William Thomas said Tuesday he is confident the deal will close by the September deadline.

Under new ownership, the community will benefit from $25 million in facility and service improvements over the next five years, he said.

“For the last two years, the hospital has been struggling through bankruptcy, and that has been very difficult for the hospital to function in bankruptcy … it is hard to invest in new equipment and improved facilities,” Thomas said. “With our purchase, we can start investing in the hospital and opening many of the departments that have been closed or suspended.”

After VVCH declared bankruptcy in September 2010, KPC beat out Prime Healthcare Services Foundation in an auction for the hospital. Then-Attorney General Jerry Brown approved KPC to buy the hospital, but KPC failed to seal the deal by the deadline in May 2011.

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