Prime Healthcare Services purchased the hospital, which was founded in 1967, in 2006. The hospital was turning a profit but, due to its location and needs of the community, it was believed that transforming it into a non-profit hospital would work better for all stakeholders. According to Edward Barrera, Prime Healthcare’s communications director, there are financial advantages, including tax breaks, that a non-profit hospital has available to it.
Starting out 2013 as a charity has enabled the hospital to be freed of its debt. Huntington Beach Hospital’s inclusion as the fifth nonprofit hospital overseen by Prime Healthcare is due to the increase in Medicare, Medicaid, uninsured, and underinsured patients in the area. Oddly, Huntington Beach Hospital turning into a non-profit may, to a degree, help the local financial situation that prompted its change in status.
Kathleen Curran, the hospital’s spokesperson, expressed a desire to see the hospital provide more hands-on help, saying:
"That's probably going to be the biggest change that we see."
With the expected increase in health screenings and community outreach, it is likely that the hospital will be taking on more staff in the near future, so there may soon be cause for poster printing to advertise jobs.
The hospital, with the many awards it has won for its excellent staff and the services it provided, has a superb reputation. It will no doubt have little trouble living up to the strict criteria to which non-profit hospitals are held.