Dr. Prem Reddy, Chairman, President, and CEO of Prime Healthcare, has once again been named among the LA500 by the Los Angeles Business Journal, an annual list of the most influential leaders and executives in Los Angeles who demonstrate “driving innovation, creativity, community, and industry.” It marks the second year in a row that Dr. Reddy has received the prized recognition.
The LA500 showcases the 500 most powerful executives, trendsetters, and thought leaders who drive economic growth in Southern California. Los Angeles Business Journal publisher Josh Schimmels writes that given the recent pandemic, the “2021 class of the LA500 was faced with challenges over the past year that many may never have to address again — at least not to the same extent. It was a year of difficulty, tragedy, optimism, and achievement.”
In its recognition of Dr. Reddy, the magazine noted that Prime Healthcare was founded in 2001 “with a mission to buy hospitals in financial distress and improve their financial condition so they could keep their doors open and continue to treat patients.”
“In the face of tremendous challenges, Dr. Reddy and Prime Healthcare rescued our community hospital, Centinela Hospital Medical Center, from closure in 2007, have invested well over $100 million into the facility since then and converted it into one of the top hospitals in Southern California,” said Inglewood Mayor James Butts, noting that more recently, Prime Healthcare and Dr. Reddy rescued nearby St. Francis Medical Center in Lynwood, a key trauma center serving the Southeast Los Angeles Community. “Under Dr. Reddy’s leadership, the staff at both St. Francis and Centinela have gone above and beyond in keeping the doors open and providing life-saving treatment to the people of Los Angeles County throughout the pandemic, providing COVID vaccinations to thousands of community members, including first responders.”
Prime’s acquisition of St. Francis Medical Center last August, a historic acquisition that occurred in the midst of the pandemic, rescued the safety net hospital from bankruptcy and ensured the underserved community in Lynwood, California, didn’t lose its only hospital during its time of greatest need.
In addition to saving the hospital from closure, Prime has already modernized St. Francis with more than $12 million in new systems and technology while preserving its mission of providing exceptional quality care for one of the most impacted communities in California.
A physician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, Dr. Reddy’s life work has been to not only save failing hospitals but to give back directly to the community, gifting hundreds of millions of dollars locally and globally to causes related to healthcare, education, and caring for others.
Born in a village in India, Dr. Reddy and Prime Healthcare recently provided life-saving humanitarian aid to hospitals in India struggling to serve COVID-19 patients. “The current surge in India represents a humanitarian crisis that we must all come together to address. The surge is putting incredible demands on the hospitals and healthcare system,” said Reddy. “Many have been impacted in India and our hearts are with them. In the U.S., we have seen the incredible impact of our work in saving and changing lives and we hope our relief efforts will do the same in India.”
In addition to his visionary healthcare leadership, Dr. Reddy fulfilled a lifelong dream with the founding of one of California’s newest medical schools, the California University of Science and Medicine (CUSM), located in San Bernardino County. The university includes a School of Medicine and a Master degree program with a mission to inspire, motivate and empower future physicians and leaders to serve underserved areas.
“Dr. Reddy recognized the need to address the acute shortage of physicians through innovative medical education programs, research, and training,” said Paul Lyons, President, and Dean of CUSM. “The physician shortage has had very real consequences on the health of residents in underserved communities. Dr. Reddy’s leadership has been inspirational and instrumental in addressing these needs.”
Through the Dr. Prem Reddy Family Foundation, Dr. Reddy and his family have donated millions to various charities supporting health education, college scholarships, public healthcare education and free community clinics. To date, the foundation has awarded more than $1.4 million in academic scholarships to deserving High Desert residents, providing life-changing opportunities to a generation of future caregivers.
Throughout his career, Dr. Reddy has been named by Modern Healthcare as one of the “50 Most Influential Physician Executives” in healthcare nine times, the “25 Top Minority Executives in Healthcare” multiple times, and is consistently listed among the “Top 100 Physician Leaders to Know” and “Top 100 Most Influential People in Healthcare.” Dr. Reddy currently serves as Chairman of the Board of the Federation of American Hospitals (FAH), the national representative of more than 1,000 tax-paying community hospitals and health systems throughout the United States.
About Prime Healthcare and Prime Healthcare Foundation: Prime Healthcare is an award-winning health system operating 45 hospitals and more than 300 outpatient locations in 14 states, providing over 2.6 million patient visits annually. It is one of the nation’s leading health systems with nearly 50,000 employees and physicians dedicated to providing the highest quality healthcare. Fourteen of the Prime Healthcare hospitals are members of the Prime Healthcare Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit public charity. Based in Ontario, California, Prime Healthcare is nationally recognized for award-winning quality care and has been named a Top 10 and Top 15 Health System by IBM Watson Health. Its hospitals have been named among the nation’s “100 Top Hospitals” 58 times and have received more Patient Safety Excellence Awards from Healthgrades than any other health system in the past six years. To learn more, please visit www.primehealthcare.com
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