Healthcare merger will affect 700,000 patients, new company will have $3.8B debt

In the $4.4 billion deal announced Tuesday, Torrance-based Healthcare Partners merged with DaVita, Inc., a Denver-based firm with deep roots and a rocky financial history in Southern California. The merger is the latest example in an ongoing trend toward consolidation in healthcare, and raises a number of red flags for patients, said Anthony Wright, executive director of the consumer advocacy organization Health Access California. The deal will leave the new company, to be based in Denver and called DaVita Healthcare Partners, with $3.8 billion in new debt.