Catholic Health Initiatives will sell Denville, N.J.-based Saint Clare's Health System to Prime Healthcare Services; an asset purchase agreement was signed on May 2.
The Saint Clare's system has annual operating revenue of more than $337 million and provides more than $20 million worth of charity care annually. The sale includes the 272-bed Saint Clare's Hospital in Denville; the 104-bed Saint Clare's Hospital in Boonton Township, N.J., which specializes in behavioral health; and the 60-bed Saint Clare's Hospital in Dover, N.J. The Saint Clare's Foundation is not part of the acquisition. The for-profit Prime Healthcare, based in Ontario, Calif., said in a statement it intends to hire all of Saint Clare's employees, who number nearly 3,000.
Saint Clare's Health System will work with the Diocese of Paterson, N.J., Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli to determine the future of its Catholic identity, and the nonprofit's tax status "may change" in the future, according to Stephanie Galloway, marketing communications manager for Saint Clare's Health System. She said the system will continue its mission of caring for the community. Prime said it will provide charity care based on existing Saint Clare's policies.
The Board of Directors for Saint Clare's said as health care reform evolves, it's "critical for health providers to be part of a broad network of coordinated health care organizations including health providers, payers and other related health entities," according to a statement announcing the sale. Galloway said Prime Healthcare's pending acquisitions of St. Michael's Medical Center in Newark, N.J., and St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, N.J., provides Saint Clare's an opportunity to become part of a broad, coordinated network that will be important under health care reform.
In 2012, Ascension Health Care Network, the for-profit Catholic health care system formed through a partnership between St. Louis-based Ascension Health and a private equity firm, was in separate talks to acquire the Saint Clare's Health System, St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic and St. Joseph's Healthcare System in Paterson, but those negotiations ended without deals.