Leaders of St. Mary Medical Center, which is in Apple Valley, have made a $35 million offer to the Victorville hospital's board. The offer also includes a $25 million pledge for facilities improvements at Victor Valley.
St. Mary leaders submitted the bid to prevent a High Desert hospital from closing and to help relieve crowding at its own facility, spokesman Randy Bevilacqua said. "We believe those beds are greatly needed in the High Desert, and Victor Valley takes care of a great variety of poor and needy in the High Desert," he said.
St. Mary Medical Center is part of St. Joseph Health System and has 206 beds. The Apple Valley hospital treats some 80,000 emergency-room patients and 14,000 inpatient admissions each year.
Victor Valley Community Hospital has 101 beds.
St. Mary's offer now goes to Victor Valley Community Hospital's lawyers for further review, Victor Valley spokeswoman Lovella Sullivan said. For St. Mary's to buy the hospital, its bid must survive review in U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris.
Previous bidders for the Victorville hospital include a foundation affiliated with Ontario- based Prime Healthcare Services. Prime's foundation bid $31.5 million for the Victor Valley hospital.
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