Business Roundup: Duke LifePoint Expands NC Footprint

Also, BayHealth and Peninsula Regional form an interstate collaborative, Tenet Healthcare acquires its 80th hospital, and Lahey Health and Winchester Hospital finalize their affiliation.

Duke LifePoint Healthcare has expanded its footprint in North Carolina with the acquisitions of two health systems.

The for-profit hospital chain announced this month that it has finalized acquisitions with Sylva, NC-based WestCare Health System and Clyde, NC-based MedWest Haywood. The two health systems will switch to for-profit tax status.

Jeff Seraphine, Eastern Group director for Nashville-based LifePoint Hospitals, says not-for-profit providers are more accepting of a change in tax status. "We still will run into some biases from some organizations but it's hard to argue about our commitment to quality. Everybody is facing the same challenges," he says.

"We accept the charity care policies the communities have been operating with, so that becomes a moot point. However, we still run into some biases and those seem to be driven by some old stereotypes that are still carried less by the boards and more from some of the leadership in the hospitals."

"They seem to be carried on from decades of stereotypes in the industry, but when these boards have the opportunity to look objectively we find that we do very well."

In the WestCare deal, Duke LifePoint bought Harris Regional Hospital, an 86-bed hospital in Sylva; Swain County Hospital, a 48-bed hospital in Bryson City; and WestCare Medical Park, an outpatient center in Franklin.

WestCare will be governed by a regional board of trustees that includes local physicians and community leaders and representatives from Duke LifePoint. 

Seraphine declined to say how much Duke LifePoint paid for the health system, but he said it would invest a minimum of $43 million in capital improvements over the next eight years and provide new resources to help the system grow, recruit new physicians, enhance services and improve health care delivery throughout the region.

In the MedWest deal, Duke LifePoint acquired the 169-bed Haywood Regional Medical Center and its assets. While again declining to state the purchase price, Seraphine says Duke LifePoint will invest a minimum of $36 million in capital improvements at Haywood over the next eight years. MedWest Haywood will now be known as Haywood Regional Medical Center. 

The acquisitions mean that Duke LifePoint now operates seven hospitals across North Carolina, along with Marquette General Health System in Marquette, MI, and Twin County Regional Healthcare in Galax, VA.

Duke LifePoint also expects to finalize the acquisition of the three-hospital Conemaugh Health System in Johnstown, PA later this year.

Bayhealth, Peninsula Regional form HealthPartners Delmarva
Bayhealth of Dover, DE and Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury, MD have formed HealthPartners Delmarva interstate collaborative.

Bayhealth, with hospitals in Dover and Milford, and Peninsula, which operates Peninsula Regional Medical Center, jointly announced that the collaboration allows them to share the best practices, but is not an acquisition of one health system by the other. The focus is on improving patient care and access and is not a consolidation of workforces.

"Creating the best experience for our patients will mean identifying and adopting best practices that focus on convenience, safety, time, and cost efficiency," Bayhealth CEO/President Terry Murphy said in a media release. "By bringing together the experience, innovation and patient-centered values of our two health systems, we can be even more prepared for the new realities of healthcare."

Peggy Naleppa, MD, president/CEO of PRMC said the two health systems are "similar-minded" and place a premium on patient-first values.

"Together we have as our goal to provide patients greater access to best-in-class healthcare and to leverage for the benefit of our patients the combined intellectual assets of each health system," Naleppa said.

Tenet Acquires 80th Hospital with Emanuel Medical Center Deal
Tenet Healthcare Corp. has completed the acquisition of Emanuel Medical Center, a 209-bed hospital in Turlock, CA, located about 100 miles southeast of San Francisco, the Dallas-based hospital chain announced.

The deal creates the third hospital for Tenet in California's Central Valley, along with Doctors Medical Center of Modesto and Doctors Hospital of Manteca.

Tenet bought the hospital from Covenant Ministries of Benevolence, an affiliate of Evangelical Covenant Church ministries. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

"We selected Tenet to be the new owner of Emanuel Medical Center because we wanted to ensure that this vital community asset continues to serve Turlock for many decades to come," David Dwight, president of Covenant Ministries of Benevolence, said in prepared remarks. "We are confident that we are leaving Emanuel Medical Center in good hands and that Tenet will be a dedicated and responsible steward of the hospital."

Tenet named Susan Micheletti the new CEO at Emanuel Medical Center, effective immediately.
Emanuel Medical Center is the 80th hospital in Tenet's national network and its 12th in California.

Lahey Health, Winchester (MA) Hospital Finalize Affiliation
Winchester Hospital is now a part of Lahey Health, following a review of the affiliation by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission.

Under the affiliation, Winchester Hospital has joined the Lahey Health system as part of a shared governance model, the health systems announced jointly. Winchester Hospital will maintain its own board of directors and continue oversight of hospital operations and credentialing of medical staff.

"We are thrilled to officially welcome Winchester Hospital into the Lahey Health family," Howard Grant, MD, president/CEO of Lahey Health said in prepared remarks.

"Since the inception of Lahey Health, we have worked tirelessly to keep costs down and care in the local community where it belongs. Our community hospitals have never been stronger, and we expect the same excellent results for Winchester Hospital as it joins the Lahey Health network of providers. "

Lahey Health was formed in 2012 in an affiliation between Lahey Clinic, now Lahey Hospital & Medical Center, and the Northeast Health System.

Wellmont Culls List of Potential Partners
The board of directors at Kingsport, TN-based Wellmont Health System has narrowed the list of potential health system partners from six to three, including a regional system and two significant health systems beyond the region, all of which are not-for-profit organizations.

A final decision is not expected before this fall, the health system said in a media release.