Victorville hospital files for bankruptcy

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Victor Valley Community Hospital in Victorville has filed for bankruptcy protection after mounting debt and thin caseloads made it impossible to maintain a viable operation, administrators said.

Just over half of the nonprofit hospital’s 101 beds are filled, with many patients relying on the state’s Medi-Cal program for the poor that does not cover the full cost of their care, the hospital said.

In a last-ditch effort to ward off bankruptcy, the hospital earlier this month laid off 30 part-time or on-call workers, including administrative staff and nursing assistants, leaving it with about 600 employees. No doctors or nurses were fired.

Even after that step, Victor Valley faces $20 million in debt and is anticipating a looming cut in reimbursements from the federal Medicare insurance program for the elderly.

The 43-year-old hospital, one of four in the High Desert region, filed for bankruptcy Monday evening. Its chief executive said it would remain open as it pursues a new owner, possibly the nonprofit Prime Healthcare Foundation Inc. in Ontario.

“The hospital’s management and board are extremely saddened that we were forced to file for protection under federal bankruptcy law,” Chief Executive Catherine M. Pelley said in a statement. “It was clearly not our desired outcome. This decision was made with one goal in mind – the continued delivery of high-quality care to the High Desert communities we serve.”

-- Duke Helfand