Prime Healthcare Services Inc

California regulators have moved to stop one of the state's biggest hospital operators from billing privately insured patients for unpaid medical services received at its facilities. The Department of Managed Health Care, in a lawsuit filed Friday in Orange County Superior Court, is seeking to bar Prime Healthcare Services Inc.

As he piloted his new, $1.4-million helicopter from his Apple Valley home to Orange County one recent morning, Dr. Prem Reddy enjoyed a cloudless view of his growing empire. Today, the five-seat Eurocopter EC120 whisks him to Anaheim, where he recently agreed to buy two hospitals. On other days, he sweeps over endless miles of gridlock to his facilities in Sherman Oaks, Huntington Beach and San Diego.

State officials Wednesday rejected a rapidly growing Inland Empire hospital chain's bid to buy one of the largest medical centers in Orange County, saying the sale was not in the best interest of the community. The sale had been debated in Orange County for months as community activists, doctors, patients and medical experts argued over whether Prime Healthcare Services Inc., a for-profit chain based in Victorville, should be allowed to buy nonprofit Anaheim Memorial Medical Center.

A rapidly growing Inland Empire hospital chain, whose bid to buy an Anaheim hospital was rejected last summer by the state attorney general, is one of half a dozen companies trying again to buy the struggling medical center. In July, the state declined to approve a $55-million sale of 223-bed Anaheim Memorial Medical Center to Prime Healthcare Services Inc. The firm is co-owned by Dr. Prem Reddy, a prominent and controversial cardiologist from Victorville, and a trust owned by his family.

A rapidly growing Southland hospital chain owned by a controversial cardiologist has agreed to buy struggling Centinela hospital in Inglewood. The pending acquisition would be the highest-profile purchase yet by Prime Healthcare Services Inc., an Inland Empire-based chain operated by Dr. Prem Reddy. The chain is buying Centinela Freeman HealthSystem's Centinela hospital, which promotes itself as the official medical center of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Lakers.