The first- and second-largest Catholic systems in the health care industry are joining forces to create a new Michigan health care network. The largest Catholic network, Ascension Health, is based in St. Louis, while the second-largest, CHE-Trinity Health, is based here in Livonia, Michigan, according to the news release detailing the deal. The new entity, which will be separate from the current networks, will be called Together Health Network.
CHE-Trinity Health is one of our state’s largest employers. It employs nearly 29,000 people in 31 different counties. It brought in $13.3 billion in revenue last year. Ascension Health, which has a presence in 20 states, earned $15 billion in revenue. The two organizations say they will not merge their assets.
Together Health Network will be an integrated health network including not only 27 hospitals, but hundreds of doctors’ offices and ambulatory centers throughout the state. According to officials for the two systems, the new network will put three-quarters of Michigan residents within 20 minutes of one of its providers. They say their goal is to give people in Michigan greater health care access and choice, and that their plans will be available both on private exchanges and the health insurance exchange.
The new network has yet to determine its management team, finalize contracts or select physicians for the network. Officials say, however, that the chief executive officer and a majority of the board will be physicians. They plan to finalize these matters in the coming months.
Many business deals involve mergers or acquisitions. The concept of two organizations coming together to form a new entity without merging assets may be less familiar to some of our readers. However, the partnership still requires the skills of experienced financial and legal advisors to help ensure that it goes smoothly so that it can be up and running and serving the people of Michigan as soon as possible.
Source: St. Louis Business Journal, “Ascension forms integrated health network with Michigan system” Samantha Liss, May. 07, 2014
