PIH Health and Good Samaritan Hospital sign affiliation agreement

PIH Health, a Whittier-based nonprofit healthcare network, and Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles, announced Sept. 5 that they have signed an affiliation agreement that will align the two mission-driven healthcare organizations.

According to the announcement from PIH Health, “Good Samaritan will be fully integrated into the PIH Health system in a manner that will permanently maintain and enhance Good Samaritan’s ability to provide outstanding patient care to the thousands of patients it serves each week.”

Good Samaritan Hospital was founded in 1885 by an Episcopal nun. It has throughout its history been an institution of the Episcopal Church; first in the San-Francisco based Diocese of California, and in the Diocese of Los Angeles since 1896.

“Proud as the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles is and always will be of the Episcopal roots of Good Samaritan Hospital, I fully support the step the board of trustees took today to secure its future by affiliating with PIH Health,” said the Rt. Rev. John Harvey Taylor, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles and a member of the hospital’s board. “Our conversations with the PIH Spiritual Care Services and Clinical Pastoral Education departments revealed a consonance of values when it comes to the spiritual care of all patients, their families, and staff without regard to religious affiliation. We look forward to continuing conversations in the weeks and months ahead about ensuring the continued recognition of Good Sam’s Episcopal heritage.”

“Good Samaritan has been a cornerstone of excellent healthcare in Los Angeles for more than 130 years,” said James R. West, president and chief executive officer of PIH Health. “We are thrilled to welcome their physicians, staff and patients to the PIH Health family as we work together to provide outstanding care to patients right in their own communities.”

PIH Health stated that it will “invest resources and capital to provide Good Samaritan Hospital with the ability to remain dedicated to the highest quality healthcare in its current location in downtown Los Angeles.”

“Adding the Good Samaritan community to PIH Health’s network complements the expanded community we embraced in 2013 when we acquired the former Downey Regional Medical Center,” adds J. Richard Atwood, chair of PIH Health’s board of directors, “This affiliation enables us to provide care for more than three million residents living or working in the areas surrounding our three hospitals.”

 

“PIH Health and Good Samaritan share a common commitment to the health and wellness of the residents of Southern California. We plan to expand services that will benefit even more members of our community,” said Andrew B. Leeka, Good Samaritan Hospital’s president and chief executive officer. “We believe that combining the resources and expertise of two of Southern California’s outstanding health systems will result in enhanced care and services.”

“Good Samaritan Hospital has ably served its community for 134 years with skilled and caring doctors, nurses, and staff, providing sophisticated medical care using advanced techniques in a wonderful campus that now includes a new state of the art medical office pavilion with an exceptional ambulatory surgery center. The affiliation with PIH Health will allow us to continue our tradition of service and innovation with a new and sustainable model well suited for our current healthcare environment,” added Charles T. Munger, chair of Good Samaritan’s board of trustees.

PIH Health and Good Samaritan will work together over the next few months to prepare for closing the transaction, followed by a transition period for the operations to be coordinated in a way that will be as seamless as possible for patients. A name change to PIH Health Good Samaritan Hospital will follow.

About PIH Health

PIH Health is a nonprofit, regional healthcare network that serves approximately 2.5 million residents in the Los Angeles County, Orange County and San Gabriel Valley region. The fully integrated network is comprised of PIH Health Hospital in Whittier and PIH Health Hospital in Downey, and features 26 outpatient medical locations, a multispecialty medical (physician) group, home healthcare services and hospice care, as well as heart, cancer, women’s health, urgent care and emergency services. The organization is recognized by Watson Health as one of the nation’s top hospitals, and by the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) as one of the nation’s top hospital systems for best practices, cutting-edge advancements, quality of care and healthcare. For more information, visit PIHHealth.org.

About Good Samaritan Hospital

Sister Mary Wood, an Episcopal nun from the San Francisco area, first established the Los Angeles Hospital and Home for Invalids in 1885. First located in a cottage, the hospital expanded two years later on land donated by St. Paul’s Episcopal Church (later cathedral) and was renamed St. Paul’s Hospital and Home for Invalids. In 1896 the hospital again moved to larger quarters on West Seventh Street and reopened as the Hospital of the Good Samaritan. In that same year, the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles was established, having been divided from the San Francisco-based Diocese of California. The first Bishop of Los Angeles, the Rt. Rev. Joseph Horsfall Johnson, became one of the hospital’s earliest champions, raising more than $1 million for its support and the construction of a new building facing Wilshire Boulevard. The Bishop Johnson School of Nursing became a vibrant institution associated with the hospital. In 1899, also under Bishop Johnson’s leadership, the annual convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles established the Thanksgiving Day offering through which congregations forwarded to the hospital funds received during services on that holiday. Bishop Johnson’s six successors continued sequentially as trustees of the hospital, which is home to the historic All Souls Chapel (a scale-model of the old St. Paul’s Cathedral) and the more contemporary Chapel of St. Raphael, named for an archangel traditionally known for healing gifts and skills.

Today Good Samaritan is a 408-bed acute care center that serves the needs of a growing and diverse community. Known for its outstanding tertiary services, Good Samaritan has seven Centers of Excellence that focus on advancing the science of medicine while providing outstanding patient care with national and internationally renowned physicians. The centers include the Heart & Vascular Center, Comprehensive Orthopaedic Center, Comprehensive Stroke Center, Tertiary Retinal Surgery, Pancreatico-Biliary Program, Transfusion-Free Medicine & Surgery Center, and the Davajan-Cabal Center for Perinatal Medicine. Good Samaritan Hospital completed its new 193,000-square foot Medical Pavilion in 2018, featuring the Frank R. Seaver Ambulatory Surgery Center and radiation oncology. For more information visit www.goodsam.org.