Home Health & Hospice Week

San Diego-based Scripps Health, the health system that bought high-profile San Diego Hospice’s cliff-top inpatient facility when that organization went bankrupt nearly five years ago, has shut down its hospice business line. San Diego Hospice declared bankruptcy in February 2013 after revealing a Medicare audit focusing on patients’ eligibility for the Medicare hospice benefit. The property, which included a 24-bed hospice and several administrative buildings, was built with an $18.5 million donation from the late Joan Kroc, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.

After a bidding war, Scripps beat out Sharp Healthcare with a $16.55 million bid. If they won, both Scripps and Sharp pledged to preserve the numerous memorials throughout the buildings and along a perimeter garden walking path.

But now Scripps has shuttered its hospice unit, and has sold the facility with an ocean view to an apartment complex developer for $20 million, according to the newspaper.

Scripps CEO Chris Van Gorder says its hospice business lost $2 to $3 million per year for a total of $14 million. Scripps worked with Escondido-based Elizabeth Hospice on transitioning staff and patients, the Union-Tribune says.