As pioneers in technology for the healthcare industry the KPC Group healthcare division, KPC Health, has successfully established a group of integrated healthcare delivery systems consisting of acute care hospitals, Independent Physicians Associations (IPAs), medical groups, urgent care facilities, and various fully integrated multi-specialty medical facilities throughout the western United States.
KPC wants to help you develop the ability to understand and utilize numerous healthy choices to improve your life in various settings.
All physicians, nurses and hospital staff are calm, professional and knowledgeable; they will bring ample expertise and provide personalized care.
KPC Health treats each patient individually, approaching care through a case-by-case basis with no generalized terms.
Promoting the family unit is the core of all KPC Health messaging. By providing quality healthcare, we ensure the entire family is healthy and happy.
CORONA, Calif., Aug. 06, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Today KPC announced the appointment of Dr. John A. Heydt as Chief Clinical Officer (CCO) of KPC Health and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Apex Medical Group, a subsidiary of the KPC Group. Dr. Heydt is a nationally renowned physician executive and has significant experience in the Southern California healthcare market.
Most recently, Dr. Heydt served as Chief Academic Officer of Borrego Health, where he established an affiliation between Hemet Valley Medical Center and Borrego. Prior to that, Dr. Heydt served as Senior Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs for UC Irvine School of Medicine and UC Riverside School of Medicine. He also served as CEO of the UC Riverside Health Medical Group.
Dr. Heydt has held a number of executive leadership roles, including CEO of Drexel University Physicians, Chief Quality Officer and Chair of Family, Preventive, and Community Medicine at Drexel University College of Medicine, Director of Urgent Care at UCLA Medical Center, and Chief Medical Officer at the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital. Dr. Heydt attended medical school at Temple University School of Medicine and completed his residency in Family Medicine at UCLA Medical Center. He is board certified in both Family Medicine and Sports Medicine.
“Dr. Heydt has an esteemed record and we are honored he has decided to join our team,” added Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri, Founder and Chairman of the KPC Group and KPC Health. “His clinical and academic leadership experiences will enhance our rapidly growing health system to ensure we deliver the most advanced healthcare to the communities we serve.”
“As a physician executive, Dr. Heydt has just the kind of leadership skills and clinical expertise necessary to ensure our clinical operations meet the highest standards for our patients,” said Peter Baronoff, CEO of KPC Health. “He will be great asset to the KPC Health System and Apex Medical Group as we broaden access to specialty services.”
“I am thrilled to join the KPC Health system and look forward to contributing to a growing healthcare system,” said Dr. John A. Heydt, CCO of KPC Health and CEO of Apex Medical Group. “I am especially excited about the opportunity to work with some of the top physicians in Southern California.”
KPC Health owns and operates a group of integrated healthcare delivery systems consisting of acute care hospitals, Independent Physician Associations, medical groups, and various fully integrated multi-specialty medical facilities. KPC Health’s current system of hospitals includes seven full-service acute care hospitals located throughout southern California. In addition, KPC Health recently received court approval to acquire four California hospitals, and seven long-term acute care hospitals and two skilled nursing facilities located in Kansas, Utah, Mississippi, Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas. Once finalized, these acquisitions will bring KPC Health’s integrated healthcare system to 20 facilities nationally.
Thirty-five recently graduated medical and osteopathic doctors received their white coats in special ceremonies, June 28, at the KPC Health Center in Hemet officially recognizing them as physicians beginning their one to three year residencies in their chosen specialties.
The new doctors come from top rated medical schools in the United States and across the globe and will be assisting local doctors on their rounds at the recently renamed KPC Hemet Global Medical Center and KPC Menifee Hospitals. The residents will learn the fine points of their chosen specialities from working Physicians for Healthy Hospitals at the local medical centers.
The doctors were greeted and welcomed by Peter Baronoff, the CEO of KPC Health.
“It is really the beginning of what’s it all about being a physician,” he said to them. “We hope some of you will want to stay after your residency.”
Dr. Sumanta Chaudhuri Saini, director of medical education, introduced the faculty to the new residents who they will be working with. The faculty from the different specialities, attending the ceremony included DME program director Dr. Frederick White in radiology and Chaudhuri Saini who will head up internal medicine along with Dr. Veeravat Tae, the associate program director.
Chaudhuri Saini will also be in charge of the 18 residents in the 2019-2020 transitional year program who have chosen to stay another year to learn additional skills in their professions. Specialty residency programs such as the one at the KPC hospitals many continue from one to five years. Thus far nearly 99 doctors have completed their residency at the local hospitals in the last five years.with a number choosing to remain in the Hemet San Jacinto Valley in their own practices and specialties.
White presented white coats to first year internal medicine residents: Yuvraj Brar, MD; Mastaneh Nikravesh, MD; Ankit Dubey, MD; Natalia Jacobs, DO; Sabina Kumar, DO; Steven Noriega, MD; Jinesh Patel, MD; Naresh Purohit, MD; Jessica So, MD; Sergi Khodakivskyi, MD; Megan Locks, DO; Kevin Martin, DO; Mohammad Yousuf, MD, and Chukwuemeka “Emeka” Umeh, MBBS.
White also presented white coats to 2019-2020 second year radiology residents: April Garcia, DO; Kayra Rubio, DO, and John Thueson, DO.
Chudhuri Saini presented white coats to first year transitional residents: Christine Chang, DO; Neha Dhadwal, DO; Jaspreet Dhanjal, MD; Arka Dutta, MD; Medi Eslani, MD; Pete Flores, MD; Asmar Abdul Ghani, MD; Divya Gupta, MD; Jaxmyne Hefflefinger, DO; Ravi Janumpally, MD; Shadi Kazourra, MD, Poojitha Mummaneni, MD; Anphong Nguyen, MD; Muhammad Safwatullah, MD; Clinjto Schaefer, DO; Krystal Sood, MD, and Ashley Stratton, DO.
With their white coats, bearing their physician names, the residents raised their right hands to swear the osteopathic and Hippocratic oath led by Chaudhuri Saini.
Dr. So from Apple Valley, who received her medical training at St. George’s University School of Medicine in Granada, said she chose to take her residency at the KPC Global Medical Center in Hemet because the hospital itself offered what she said has an amazing faculty.
“I had kinda heard this from a friend before that it was a teaching population where you couldn’t get any better training anywhere else,” So said.
Southern California health care business KPC Health has acquired Promise Hospital of Baton Rouge, a former subsidiary of Promise Healthcare, a Boca Raton, Florida-based hospital business.
Promise Healthcare Group’s hospital network across Louisiana was acquired several months after it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2018. The network was split between KPC Health and Lexmark Holdings.
The Boca Raton, Florida-based company specialized in short-term and long-term acute care hospitals in addition to skilled nursing facilities in several states. In March, KPC Health announced that it planned to acquire a hospital in Louisiana, but did not specify which one. Financial details about the sale were not disclosed, but KPC Health did secure a line of credit for working capital from international investment bank Credit Suisse Group AG, records show.
Since filing for bankruptcy in November 2018, the Promise Healthcare sold off three Florida hospitals to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania Select Medical for $63 million. It also sold the 146-bed hospital in Shreveport along with its Bossier City hospital for roughly $35 million combined to Lexmark Holdings, records show.
Meanwhile, Santa Ana-based KPC Health has been on an acquisition spree, snapping up hospitals out of bankruptcy across the country in recent months. It had offered $610 million in a bid to buy a bankrupt chain of hospitals in California owned by Verity Health earlier this year and was awarded the deal in April. The deal to acquire the Baton Rouge hospital was lumped together with six other long-term acute care hospitals across the U.S. once run by Promise Healthcare.
Promise Hospital’s CEO for Baton Rouge, Kiley Cedotal, deferred questions to the new owners. Cedotal has been in the role since November 2014, according to his LinkedIn profile. KPC Health did not respond to requests for comment by late Wednesday.
Promise Healthcare had filed for bankruptcy with more than $500 million in corporate debt. The hospital struggled overall amid a nationwide decrease in reimbursement rate for Medicare patients, according to court records. Promise Hospital attempted to invest in new business projects, which were later abandoned, records show. By fiscal year 2016, it had posted a $5.2 million operating loss. One year later, that swelled to $25.2 million.
Financially its Louisiana hospitals were performing better than those in other states, Danny Brown, landlord for Promise Hospital’s Baton Rouge facilities told The Advocate in November. But the company faced some legal battles.
In 2016, Promise Hospital was accused of improperly billing Medicare for treatment of a rare protein deficiency known as Kwashiorkor by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general. Promise Hospital was also ordered to pay $1 million to Amerihealth Caritas Louisiana, a business which handles managed-care services for the state’s Medicaid program, over claims of double billing for services.
DALY CITY, California — In a town hall meeting after Seton Medical Center management filed for bankruptcy in August 2018, Girlie Macaraig, a registered nurse in Seton Medical Center for 40 years and her colleagues feared what could happen in the next months as a new owner was being.
“The patients too were scared as Seton has always been a good hospital for the community. Will the hospital still stay open? We have very good doctors, nurses — an overwhelming number of whom are Filipinos — and staff members consisting of orderlies, CNAs, dietitians, technicians and transporters most of whom are also Filipinos,” Macaraig worried.
“We still continue to work and care for our patients. We hope and pray that the hospital remains open and that it will support the city, the community, nurses and other hospital staff.”
Macaraig’s group’s prayers appear to have been answered. San Mateo County Supervisor David J. Canepa, whose 5th county district includes Daly City, announced that U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ernest M. Robles approved KPC Health System’s acquisition of Seton Medical Center in Daly City, Seton Coastside in Moss Beach, St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles and St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood — all in California for $610 million.
KPC is owned primarily by Founder and Chairman Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri. “KPC has committed to keeping these hospitals open and that’s incredible news for Seton’s employees and the tens of thousands of mostly vulnerable patients in San Mateo and San Francisco counties they care for each year,” disclosed Canepa.
“Now we have a prospective owner with a proven track record in California of operating and revitalizing multiple hospitals. I am optimistic that the new owner will respect the conditions set by the state Attorney General’s Office that mandate Seton remain a full-service hospital with emergency services until 2025.”
In an earlier exclusive interview a week before the bankruptcy court decision came out, Canepa shared that he had spoken with KPC Heath System Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Peter Baronoff.
“I made it very clear to them that we are looking for an acute care hospital that would continue to operate as is and provide services. Without Seton Hospital, there is a huge gap in the way we deliver health care and we talked about health care access that has now become a social justice aside from being a human right issue. Also, we have to make sure that all the nurses and all the other jobs remain,” reiterated Canepa.
The KPC-SGM Group presently operates Orange County Global Medical Center, Anaheim Global Medical Center, Chapman Global Medical Center and South Coast Global Medical Center all in Southern California.
On ensuring the earthquake safety capability of the hospital, Canepa assured that the Attorney General made it clear that Seton must be seismically safe until 2030, and that KPC has agreed to uphold this condition mandated by former California State Attorney General (now U.S. Senator) Kamala Harris.
Daly City Mayor Ray Buenaventura welcomed the good news that Seton Hospital would continue to operate under KPC Health System. “I have met the proposed new owners. My sense is that they are sincere. Daly City is a compassionate city and we will continue to govern with that guiding principle,” remarked Buenaventura.
Daly City Councilmember Juslyn Manalo stressed that “Seton hospital must remain as an institution central to our community. We will advocate for patient care and the workers,” Manalo promised.
In the remote possibility that the sale agreement fails, Canepa assured that there were multiple bidders and interested buyers. One such group is Apollo Medical Holdings (AMP) that has a hundred of its doctors serving in Seton Hospital.
AMP Chairman of the Board Dr. Kenneth Sim Apollo hopes the AMP and its doctors together are given the chance to make a bid for Seton if the current agreement does not work out.
Nearly three months after a bid to acquire Seton Medical Center in Daly City and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach was filed in federal bankruptcy court, Southern California-based KPC Health announced its $610 million bid for four hospitals was approved by U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Ernest M. Robles Wednesday, according to a press release issued by KPC Health.
By moving to acquire the two facilities in San Mateo County alongside St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, St. Vincent Medical Center in downtown Los Angeles and St. Vincent Dialysis Center, KPC Health’s offer to purchase the financially-challenged facilities formerly operated by Verity Health now awaits approval by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra.
News of the milestone for the two Seton facilities was welcomed by San Mateo County Supervisor David Canepa, who expressed relief that critical services would remain in place at the two health care facilities delivering care to the indigent. Having met with members of KPC Health, Canepa was confident the group will bring an end to the uncertainty that has been looming over the facilities many expected to shutter.
The “stalking horse” bid KPC Health filed in January was not exceeded by any other proposed bids and no auction was required for the four Verity Health hospitals. The group’s bid was also approved by Verity Health System’s Board of Directors April 15.
Owner and operator of seven full-service acute care hospitals in Southern California, KPC Health’s integrated health system is set to include 20 facilities across the nation once ongoing acquisitions of hospitals and skilled nursing facilities in Arizona, California, Kansas, Louisiana Mississippi, Texas and Utah are complete, according to the release.
Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri, chairman of The KPC Group and KPC Health, said the judge’s decision Wednesday marks an important milestone for KPC Health’s bid to acquire the four remaining Verity Health hospitals. Despite an attempt on behalf of Becerra to block the sale of two other hospitals previously operated by Verity Health in San Jose and Gilroy, Santa Clara County’s bid on O’Connor Hospital and Saint Louise Regional Hospital was finalized in March, according to multiple news sources.
“We look forward to working with Verity Health on a successful acquisition and welcoming these important community hospitals into our integrated [health care] system,” Chaudhuri said in the release.
The financial uncertainty looming over the 350-bed Seton Medical Center, Daly City’s largest employer, as well as the 116-bed coastside hospital and skilled nursing facility has weighed heavily for officials, residents and employees of the facilities since Verity Health filed for bankruptcy in August.
County impact
Canepa represents north county’s District 5 on the Board of Supervisors and acknowledged the benefits of the sale for residents living in northern San Mateo County who depend on its services or are among Seton Medical Center’s 1,600 employees. But he also noted the benefits to county taxpayers who could have been on the hook for the hospitals if no buyer stepped forward.
County officials have already contributed some $25 million for patient care and set aside $15 million toward a seismic upgrade project at the Seton Medical Center, and Canepa expected the county to continue to help the hospitals when possible. But he also acknowledged San Mateo County Health officials have projected a structural deficit for County Health’s two-year budget starting in the 2019-20 fiscal year.
Before Santa Clara County’s bid for the San Jose and Gilroy hospitals was approved, Becerra appealed the sale, asking at the time for the existing conditions protecting the health and safety of the hospital community to be preserved. Canepa expected Becerra to determine whether he would approve the sale in the next few weeks.
A bankruptcy court judge has approved Corona-based KPC Group’s $610-million bid to acquire four of the nonprofit Verity Health System hospitals, including two in Southern California, KPC Group said Wednesday.
Verity’s board of directors had approved KPC Group’s bid Monday, but the state attorney general’s office still must sign off on the acquisition.
The four hospitals included in the KPC Group bid are St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, St. Vincent Medical Center and St. Vincent Dialysis Center in Los Angeles, Seton Medical Center in Daly City and Seton Coastside in Moss Beach.
Verity’s six hospitals were originally owned and operated by the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul. After years of financial struggles, Integrity Healthcare took over management of the hospitals in 2015.
NantWorks, the Culver City company controlled by Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, purchased Integrity in 2017. (Soon-Shiong, a physician and entrepreneur, purchased The Times last year.)
In August, Verity filed for bankruptcy protection, citing mounting losses and debt.
The other two Verity hospitals — O’Connor Hospital in San Jose and St. Louise Regional Hospital in Gilroy — were sold to Santa Clara County in a transaction that closed last month. California Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra had sought to halt the sale until the county agreed to conditions, such as requirements for job security and treatment of the poor, that were initially imposed by then-Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris in 2015. But in February, a federal judge refused to put a hold on the transaction.
In 1984, a young orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Kali P. Chaudhuri, arrived in Hemet with the dream he one day would have a lasting impact on community healthcare.
Hemet happened to be the perfect place to set up shop and call home. Single-family residences were starting to become more prevalent, with businesses and retailers following right behind. The large retirement community made the need for local healthcare options all the more obvious and important. Dr. Chaudhuri began working out of Hemet Hospital, where he quickly built a successful practice and established a reputation as one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the country.
Shortly thereafter, patients from around the United States began making the journey to Hemet for their surgeries. It was reminiscent of Dr. Chaudhuri’s journey here back in 1984. While the efforts of Dr. Chaudhuri and his fellow physicians led to initial success and profitability, trouble lay ahead for Hemet Hospital. Poor upper-level management and decision-making eventually led to many problems for the District Hospital System known as Valley Health System, which included Menifee and Moreno Valley.
That fateful decision resulted in the demise of Hemet Hospital, putting it on the path to bankruptcy and, perhaps most importantly, a pivotal turning point in Dr. Chaudhuri’s career. Rather than moving on to another job, at another hospital, in another city, Dr. Chaudhuri made it his personal mission to save Hemet’s only hospital.
Galvanized by his efforts, other physicians regained their confidence in the hospital and joined the cause. By 2010, public support for Dr. Chaudhuri’s mission to save the hospital reached critical mass, with 87 percent of voters approving the privatization of the District Hospital System.
Despite initial skepticism, the valuable community hospital that was once on the brink of bankruptcy continues its operations today as Hemet Valley Medical Center under Dr. Chaudhuri’s leadership. The hospital’s financial position has completely turned around, and continuous improvements to the facility, technology, and staff are being made.
Due to these efforts, Hemet Valley Medical Center is now home to a medical education and residency program that is attracting some of the brightest young doctors from around the world. Moreover, what Dr. Chaudhuri started right here in Hemet was only the beginning of his pursuit to save community healthcare.
Today, Dr. Chaudhuri serves as chairman of KPC Health, which owns and operates a nationwide integrated healthcare delivery system consisting of acute care hospitals, independent physician associations, medical groups, and various multi-specialty and ancillary facilities. Hemet was the first of a series of hospital turnaround successes led by Dr. Chaudhuri.
In the past five years, KPC Health achieved a similar feat after fully acquiring a group four Orange County hospitals in Santa Ana, Anaheim and Orange. More of the same appears to be on the horizon given KPC Health’s recent acquisition of seven Promise Healthcare hospitals and two skilled nursing facilities, as well as an astonishing $610 million bid to purchase four Verity Health Hospitals in Los Angeles and the Bay Area. KPC Health’s national footprint spanning across eight states including Kansas, Utah, Mississippi, Arizona, Louisiana, and Texas including northwest Dallas is poised to become a 21-hospital system sometime this year.
Over the past decade, Dr. Chaudhuri has expanded his journey beyond healthcare. The KPC Group includes a vast international real estate portfolio and a number of successful businesses throughout the pharmaceutical and biotechnology, education, real estate, infrastructure development, agriculture, architecture and engineering, alternative energy, waste management, travel services, and information technology industries.
For Dr. Chaudhuri, a dream that started in Hemet in 1984 has truly come to fruition in 2019.
A California-based hospital operator now owns Promise Hospital of Overland Park after its parent company, Promise Healthcare, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.
Strategic Global Management, a for-profit hospital operator run by main investor and orthopedic surgeon Kali Chaundhuri, recently bought the Overland Park facility. Chaundhuri is chairman and founder of the KPC Group of Companies, which includes Strategic Global.
Promise Hospital of Overland Park is a 56-bed, long-term, acute-care hospital at 6509 W. 103 St. Hospital officials said all questions about the transaction should be directed to KPC. It’s unclear what the new management plans for the facility; KPC officials did not respond to a request for comment.
Promise Healthcare, based in Boca Raton, Fla., filed for bankruptcy in November and is selling 14 hospitals and two skilled nursing facilities through U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
The company, now led by a chief restructuring officer, has more than $565 million in debt, plus unpaid interest of $110 million, accrued expenses and accounts payable of $94 million, and capitalized leases of $13 million, according to its motion to obtain a loan to keep its operations ongoing.
Promise Health Care of Overland Park reported declining gross revenue year over year, with $11.25 million in gross revenue from Jan. 1, 2018, to Nov. 4, 2018, compared with gross revenue of $13.99 million the year prior. The hospital also reported $26.39 million in assets and $97.07 million in liabilities at the time of filing.
