Trinity Health of Livonia, Michigan, has acquired a majority stake in the urgent care manager Premier Health of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Under the arrangement, Premier Health will manage about 20 Trinity Health urgent care facilities, with those facilities remaining under the ownership of Trinity Health. With that addition, Premier Health will manage more than 70 urgent care clinics across nine states including a Trinity Health of New England urgent care location. Over the next few years, Premier Health plans to double the number of urgent care centers it operates.
Baton Rouge-based Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System founded Premier Health as a privately held, for-profit in 1999. FMOLHS is the second largest investor in Premier Health, after Trinity Health.
Premier Health has partnered with multiple health systems on equity-based and management joint ventures having to do with operating urgent care locations. Among its Catholic health partners are Ascension, FMOLHS's Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center, FMOLHS's Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, FMOLHS's St. Francis Medical Center, Seton Medical Center Harker Heights and St. Joseph's Candler. The partners own the locations, and Premier Health operates them under these partners' brand names. Premier Health also has equity investments in the facilities it operates under the joint venture agreements. Trinity Health said the deal with Premier Health will not alter any of these preexisting partnerships.
Trinity Health said it will add Trinity Health-branded urgent care locations in conjunction with Premier Health, but it has not yet set a number.
According to a Trinity Health press release, under the arrangement urgent care services will be more convenient and accessible and will be better coordinated with other levels of care across the continuum. Trinity Health said the improvements will come in part through efforts to make the connections between urgent care, primary care and other services more seamless.