Some 150 Bayview Hospital employees who were facing an uncertain future amid a bankruptcy filing received good news in time for the holidays.
As of Nov. 4, the workers were put on the payroll of Paradise Valley Hospital.
The remaining 50 former Bayview employees are on the application list, said Maureen Wisener, a Paradise Valley spokeswoman.
Paradise Valley, a 237-bed acute-care hospital in National City, took control of the 64-bed psychiatric hospital in Chula Vista on Nov. 27.
The state Department of Health Services approved the transfer Dec. 4. The transfer still must be approved by the Health Care Financing Administration, a federal department of health and human services responsible for paying Medicare doctors and hospital bills.
Bayview’s fate has been uncertain since June when it filed for bankruptcy protection.
The proceedings followed complaints by employees and vendors that its license holder, California Psychiatric Management Services in Los Angeles, failed to pay them.
California Psychiatric also sought Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings for a second local psychiatric hospital, Villa View, which is located on University Avenue.
Feared Being Overwhelmed
Wisener said Paradise Valley agreed to license Bayview in part to curb an overwhelming number of psychiatric patients living in the South Bay from coming to its facility.
Paradise Valley has 39 licensed beds for adults with psychiatric and chemical-dependency problems. As of Nov. 4, 30 beds had been occupied by patients.
“We would become overwhelmed if other programs in the South Bay would go away,” Wisener said.
Bayview is also one of the few psychiatric hospitals left in San Diego to provide mental services to adults and children, Wisener said.
Gary Stephany, president and CEO of the Healthcare Association of San Diego and Imperial Counties, said most local hospitals are struggling to keep their mental health programs afloat, because of low reimbursements from Medi-Cal, the state program for the uninsured, and Medicare, the federal program for the elderly.
Wisener said Bayview will continue to operate as before under the auspices of Paradise Valley. She expects no layoffs or program cutbacks as a result of the consolidation.
Uncertain Future
Meanwhile, Villa View’s future remains uncertain.
But John Carvelli, who has been appointed by the court to reorganize Bayview and Villa View hospitals, remained optimistic.
“I feel in another two to three months there will be another operator,” Carvelli said.
He said four suitors have already expressed interest in Villa View.
They are two San Diego-based doctor groups, a national entity that owns hospitals, and an assisted living and chemical dependency organization. He declined to give names.
Stephany was less optimistic.
Villa View, located in an impoverished area of San Diego, has been troubled for many years. The hospital serves a high number of uninsured and poor patients, Stephany said.
Carvelli conceded it will be more onerous to license or sell Villa View.
That is because Villa View is owned and licensed by California Psychiatric.
Bayview, by contrast, was owned by Rush Properties. California Psychiatric leased the hospital from Rush Properties and held the license to operate it.
He said California Psychiatric still owes Medicare millions of dollars incurred at Bayview.
Carvelli said he hopes that government agencies , which would need to approve a transfer of Villa View to another entity , will not hold Villa View responsible for the Medicare debt incurred at Bayview.
Yet, according to the state Department of Health Services, Bayview posted a net income of about $290,000 during the first six months of this year.
In the standard balance sheet, Bayview was losing money, Carvelli said.
