Bon Secours Health System and one of its regional subsystems, Bon Secours Charity Health System, are in exclusive talks to form a joint venture with Westchester Medical Center.
Under the deal, the Valhalla, N.Y.-based Westchester Medical would purchase a majority stake in the Suffern, N.Y.-based Bon Secours Charity, which would remain a Catholic health care provider. "We anticipate the Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth will remain Bon Secours Charity's juridic person," said Deborah Marshall, vice president for public relations, marketing and strategic initiatives for Bon Secours Charity. Details will be completed as part of the due diligence discussions, which Marshall said will span several months.
According to a press release on the talks, Westchester Medical would assume a management role over Bon Secours Charity. Marshall said the expectation is that Bon Secours Charity's existing board would become the board for the joint venture, with board members added to represent Westchester Medical. Financial and other details of the joint venture are still under discussion, Marshall said.
Bon Secours Health System of Marriottsville, Md. is a six-state organization with 19 hospitals and a network of other facilities across the care continuum. Its Bon Secours Charity subsystem includes three hospitals and other facilities in New York's Hudson Valley. Westchester Medical is an 895-bed regional system that includes an academic medical center, children's hospital, community hospital and other sites in the Hudson Valley.
Leaders of the organizations involved in the discussions said the joint venture would aim to improve service quality and preserve and expand health care services in the Hudson Valley.
Westchester Medical is evolving its integrated delivery system of Hudson Valley-area health care providers to deliver coordinated care in the Hudson Valley — including to Medicaid recipients and other low-income people, according to the health system. Bon Secours Charity already is part of this effort.