Lungren OKs Sale of Queen of Angels Hospital

Over objections from consumer advocates, community groups and the Catholic Church, Atty. Gen. Dan Lungren approved the sale of Queen of Angels-Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center on Friday to the nation’s second-largest commercial health care company.

Tenet Healthcare Corp. will pay $86.4 million in the deal, one of the largest and most hotly contested conversions of a nonprofit hospital in the region’s history.

Under state law, the proceeds from the sale and the hospital’s existing assets--$272 million--will be transferred to a charitable foundation to be spent on community health care needs.

In a report to the public issued Friday, Lungren concluded that the transaction not only met legal muster, it “will increase existing health care benefits” in the greater Hollywood community.

But ardent critics said the deal was a disappointment, saying they weren’t allowed enough input.

Critics were particularly miffed that the new deal spread some community benefits out to a 10-mile radius, while the proposal had defined the service area as a 5-mile radius.