Carondelet Health in Kansas City, Mo., part of St. Louis-based Ascension Health, will sell St. Joseph and St. Mary's Medical Centers to the HCA Midwest Health System, which is the city's largest health care provider and private sector employer.
The agreement announced May 2 includes the two hospitals, the 310-bed St. Joseph in Kansas City, Mo., and the 146-bed St. Mary's in nearby Blue Springs, Mo. The sale also includes two surgery centers, a pharmacy, an employee physician group with 39 physicians and 14 additional health care providers, including nurse practitioners and midwives, and additional enterprises that provide services including therapy and home care. Terms of the asset purchase agreement were not released.
HCA Midwest Health System will work with the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph to continue to operate the hospitals as Catholic, in accordance with the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, according to a statement from Carondelet Health's President and Chief Executive Fleury Yelvington.
Ascension Health will continue to operate three long-term care facilities, Carondelet Manor, Villa St. Joseph and St. Mary's Manor and the two hospitals' foundations, the St. Joseph Medical Center Foundation and the St. Mary's Medical Center Foundation.
The transaction, subject to customary regulatory approvals, is expected to be completed by year's end.
Ascension Health's President and Chief Executive Robert Henkel said in a statement that Ascension will continue to serve the greater Kansas City community "by helping to meet the growing need for senior services through Carondelet Manor, Villa St. Joseph and St. Mary's Manor."
The two hospitals have been joined as Carondelet since 1997, and they have been part of Ascension Health since 2002. Yelvington said last summer that Carondolet was in discussions with other health systems as it considered a partnership, joint venture or merger. She said the system held such discussions in the past, but they intensified last year due to health care reform measures, including changes to reimbursement and care delivery that will affect the way hospitals operate.