Sonoma County (Calif.) residents voted in favor of a plan for the Palm Drive Health Care District to sell or lease Sebastopol, Calif.-based Palm Drive Hospital to American Advanced Medical Group, according to The Press Democrat.
The for-profit company has managed the facility since September as Sonoma Specialty Hospital, a nonemergency, extended-stay care facility. Hospital officials say the sale will allow the facility to return to a full-service hospital.
"By doing the lease-sale option, it almost guarantees that we’re going to have a hospital in town," said Dennis Colthurst, president of the Palm Beach Health Care District board. "This was the one Hail Mary chance for that to happen. I'm fairly confident that we’ll have a hospital and robust urgent care to serve the west county."
The deal will allow American Advanced Medical Group to buy the property for $5.2 million.
"This will turn what was a competitor to the larger hospitals essentially into being a partner," said Matt Salas, Palm Drive Hospital's COO. "That was really the reason why the hospital struggled in the past, because it was unaffiliated, and Kaiser and Sutter steer customers to their hospitals. Small hospitals have very few patients, and it's tough to survive."