HCA's East Florida Division and Mercy Hospital of Miami have signed a definitive agreement for the privately owned, for-profit HCA to purchase the 473-bed Mercy hospital. The organizations are seeking regulatory approvals and expect the sale to close by the end of the year.
Plans call for Mercy to remain a Catholic facility, for employees in good standing to become HCA employees and for Mercy's sponsors to maintain a presence at the hospital.
Administrators of Mercy's parent company, Catholic Health East of Newtown Square, Pa., have said the sale should help to ensure Mercy's long-term viability. At press time HCA's private equity investors planned to make a public offering of stock in HCA. HCA was converted from a public company to a private one in a management-led buyout in 2006.