Tehachapi Valley Healthcare to deliver quality health care services

Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District received $2.4 million in capital from UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) to help the organization deliver quality health care services to Tehachapi-area residents and rural communities in Kern County.

The $2.4 million purchase of Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District’s tax-exempt general obligation bonds is part of UnitedHealth Group’s California Health Care Investment Program, a 20-year, $200 million commitment to provide access to capital for health care entities providing services to underserved, low-income and underinsured communities and populations throughout the Golden State.

Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District is composed of Tehachapi Hospital and three rural health clinics in California City, Mojave and Tehachapi. The hospital’s services include a 24-hour emergency department; medical/surgery nursing unit; and radiology; laboratory; health and diet; respiratory therapy and rehabilitative services. The original hospital, a converted boarding house, opened in 1934 and was destroyed by an earthquake in 1952. The current hospital opened in 1957.

Proceeds from the bonds will be used to pay for the construction of a modern acute-care hospital facility that includes 25 hospital beds, an eight-bed emergency department, diagnostic radiology, ultrasound and mammography capability, a CT scanner, a clinical laboratory, rehabilitation services and an 11-outpatient clinic. Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District expects to begin construction by April 2011.

“We are delighted with UnitedHealth Group’s decision to purchase our tax-exempt securities. It signals their confidence in the credit-worthiness of our securities and re-affirms their commitment to helping small, rural health care providers like Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District to continue to provide quality health care to its residents,” said Alan J. Burgess, CEO of Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District.

“UnitedHealth Group is committed to investing in California’s health care infrastructure to help ensure that all Californians have access to quality care. We are pleased to be able to help Tehachapi Valley Healthcare District meet its community’s health care needs, and we believe it is essential that Kern County residents continue to have this important health care resource in their community,” said Steve Nelson, CEO, Western Region of UnitedHealthcare.