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HCA offers to buy Sun Coast

But a sale of the hospital to HCA's Largo Medical Center must be okayed by a bankruptcy judge.

By KRIS HUNDLEY, Times Staff Writer
Published December 29, 2007

Sun Coast Hospital in Largo made a double-barrelled announcement Friday afternoon: It filed for bankruptcy protection and tentatively accepted a buyout offer.

Largo Medical Center, an HCA hospital about 2 miles away, offered $19.7-million for Sun Coast. But the deal will have to be approved by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tampa.

In its Chapter 11 filing, Sun Coast said it had losses of $6.2-million on revenues of $215.4-million for the year ended Sept. 30. Current liabilities have outweighed assets for several months, interim chief executive Darrell Lentz said Friday, and Sun Coast's creditors number in the hundreds. Also filing separately for Chapter 11 protection was a subsidiary, Sun Coast Imaging LLC.

Sun Coast affiliated with University Community Hospital in Tampa in 2000 in an effort to reduce administrative and other back-office expenses. But that relationship ended in March, and since then the hospital at 2025 Indian Rocks Road has been struggling.

"We started looking for other corporate partnership opportunities in June," Lentz said. "Operating independently in the competitive Pinellas County health care market has been challenging. We knew that the most responsible resolution for long-term success was to align the hospital with another established and secure organization."

The bankruptcy should have no impact on Sun Coast's patients or services, Lentz said. The hospital has asked the court to allow it to continue to pay its 625 employees and prevent utilities from discontinuing service.

"We're going to continue to operate and provide all the services we currently have through this transition," he said.

A spokeswoman for HCA Inc. said the acquisition of Sun Coast by Largo Medical Center is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2008. While Sun Coast's name may be changed, no other changes are expected at the osteopathic hospital, which was established in 1957.

Back-office functions will be merged into HCA's system and Sun Coast employees will go on HCA's payroll. Sun Coast is the smaller of the two hospitals, with 200 beds, compared with Largo Medical's 256.

"We're most excited about Sun Coast's excellent osteopathic medical school," said HCA spokeswoman Debra McKell. "And while Sun Coast has acute care similar to Largo Medical, it has psychiatric services and rehab not available at Largo."

Once the deal is complete, HCA, the nation's largest hospital chain, will operate nine hospitals in the Tampa Bay area.

Kris Hundley can be reached at hundley@sptimes.com or (727) 892-2996.

[Last modified December 28, 2007, 22:35:43]