Two IDNs acquire multistate LTC providers
Perhaps it was bound to happen. In the past half-year, two health systems have acquired large, multistate providers of long-term care services. It’s too early to tell whether this could mark a new trend in caring for patients with critical needs.
In April, Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica health system announced plans to acquire HCR ManorCare, also based in Toledo and the country’s second largest post-acute care provider, according to a press release announcing the merger.
“The lines are blurring between where health care begins and stops,” Randy Oostra, ProMedica’s president and CEO, said at the time. “This acquisition provides us the platform to think differently about health and aging.”
Americans 65 and older are the fastest growing segment of the population, meaning adequate post-acute care – and the ability for patients to transition effectively between post-acute and hospital care – is in demand.
In June, Sioux Falls, South Dakota based Sanford Health and the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society announced a similar merger, to be completed by the beginning of next year.
Sanford “never had a very specific approach to long-term care,” Grant Tribble, Good Samaritan’s chief financial officer, told Skilled Nursing News at the time. The merger could allow the combined organizations to deliver a broader range of care, Tribble said.
Each acquisition means a significant expansion for the health systems involved. ProMedica, which currently operates in six states, will operate in 30 states and employ about 70,000 people once it acquires HCR ManorCare. The combined network’s projected annual revenue is $7 billion.
Sanford operates in nine states, and shares little overlap with Good Samaritan, which operates in 27 states. The merger could potentially add 19,000 Good Samaritan employees to the 28,000 Sanford already has. At the time, the question was raised as to whether this would mean downsizing for Good Samaritan’s skilled nursing facilities – it currently has about 80
For more information on the mergers and their potential implications:
• ProMedica Health System to Acquire HCR ManorCare Redefining Care for Seniors (a ProMedica press release)
• Good Samaritan, Sanford Target Continuum Control with Merger Deal (Skilled Nursing News)
• NHI Sees Promise As Health Systems Move Into Skilled Nursing (Skilled Nursing News)