Los Robles to keep status quo

Although the parent company of Los Robles Hospital and Medical Center in Thousand Oaks has agreed to a multibillion-dollar merger, the move will have no effect on hospital jobs and patient care, officials said.

"There is not going to be any change in the services we offer," said Los Robles President and CEO Jim Sherman. "We are committed to providing the community with a high level of care."

Sherman said the $120-million expansion the hospital is undergoing will not be affected either by HCA Inc.'s agreement last month to be acquired by three equity firms, taking the company private.

There will be no reduction in employee positions either, according to Jeff Prescott, HCA spokesperson. The only notable change is that the employee stock purchase plan will no longer exist.

If approved, the $21-billion cash deal plus the assuming of nearly $12 billion in debt would be one of the largest leveraged buyouts in history. HCA shareholders as well as federal regulators must approve the proposal. As part of the deal, stockholders would receive $51 per share.

Based in Nashville, Tenn., HCA Inc. is the largest for-profit hospital operator in the United States, with ownership or interests in more than 180 hospitals and 94 freestanding surgery centers in the nation, as well as in Switzerland and England. Locally, West Hills Hospital and Medical Center and Riverside Community Hospital are also HCA facilities.

Assuming shareholders give their blessing to the proposal, the deal could be completed by the end of the year, according to Prescott.

HCA has had a long history of going back and forth between being public and privately owned, Prescott said.

Los Robles was built in 1968 and sold about 18 months later to HCA, which was privately held at the time, according to Kris Carraway-Bowman, Los Robles spokesperson. In 1994 HCA merged with another company called Columbia and went public, selling shares on the New York Stock Exchange. Three years later HCA dropped Columbia but remained public.

"Throughout all of that our dedication to the quality of care never changed," Prescott said. "The merger agreement doesn't call for any changes in operation."

Acquisition mergers are taking place in many industries, according to Sherman. For HCA, the hope is that the change will make the company more profitable.

"When you're for-profit and you've got stock report earnings on a quarterly basis, if the numbers are not where Wall Street thought they should be, that can affect your stock price," Sherman said. "A merger would give us the opportunity to focus on strategy and what we do best and that's running hospitals."