Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Hospital Sale Won’t Affect Care, FTC Says

The purchase of a Palmdale hospital by the owners of a Lancaster hospital will not reduce competition for inpatient services in the Antelope Valley, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Paracelsus Healthcare Corp., owner of Lancaster Community Hospital, was accepted by a bankruptcy judge earlier this month as the buyer of Palmdale’s only hospital. Palmdale Hospital Medical Center is one of the five hospitals owned by Affiliated Medical Enterprises that is being sold through Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings.

The sale of Palmdale Hospital, expected to close by the end of the month, could have been delayed or possibly stopped had the FTC determined that it would have substantially lessened competition in the north Los Angeles County region, which is also home to a county-run hospital and a publicly operated hospital.

In a letter entered into the public record Monday, the San Francisco region of the FTC said its non-public investigation of the purchase of Palmdale Hospital Medical Center was closed.

FTC attorney John Wiegand refused to comment on the investigation, saying only, “we got to do a complete, thorough investigation.”

He would not say what prompted the FTC’s investigation, though he did note that in most hospital acquisitions concerns about competition are raised by insurance companies and sometimes government agencies.

Paracelsus Healthcare expects to take over operation of Palmdale Hospital Sept. 1.