Lee County health care facility sold, cutting 294 jobs

Lehigh Regional Medical Center in Lee County is laying off 294 employees as its owner prepares to complete the sale of the facility to HCA Healthcare.

Prime Healthcare Services, which owns the Lehigh Acres medical center at 1500 Lee Blvd. in Lehigh Acres, announced the job cuts and the reason for them in a letter to state officials this week.

The letter was sent to meet federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification requirements.

In the letter the company says it agreed in October to sell the center’s assets to an affiliate of HCA which will continue running it. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the sale is expected to close Jan. 18.

Employees were notified of both the sale and the pending job cuts Tuesday.

Prime writes that the new owners have “committed to making offers to retain substantially all” of the employees. But it’s not clear how many of the 294 losing their jobs will stay on — and if their pay packages will remain the same.

A company spokesperson says in an email Thursday that “any employee who chooses not to join HCA will be invited to apply and offered an equivalent open position at other Prime facilities.”

Lehigh Regional Medical Center, according to Prime Healthcare’s website, is a 53-bed hospital that was founded in 1965. It provides specialty care services that include emergency services, cardiology, critical care, gastroenterology, general surgery, nephrology and orthopedics.

The spokesperson, in a separate email statement, says that Prime “is proud of the growth, progress, and tremendous clinical accolades that Lehigh Regional has earned” since it bought the hospital in 2016.

“This partnership will benefit new and existing patients, as Lehigh Regional becomes part of the organization’s statewide HCA Florida Healthcare network to serve more patients and expand access to care while preserving and building on Lehigh’s legacy of quality, compassionate care.”

HCA currently operates 186 hospitals and approximately 2,400 “sites of care” in 20 states and the United Kingdom. That includes 13 facilities along the Gulf Coast.