Continuing in a series of recent deals, Steward Health Care is at it again by announcing yesterday it will buy Saints Medical Center in Lowell, Mass., a 157-bed nonprofit hospital, reports The Boston Globe.
"Steward's mission is to keep care in the community by investing in our hospitals, growing our world-class physician network and bringing the latest medical technology to the community hospital setting," said Steward CEO Ralph de la Torre in a press release, according to the article. "Joining our system will ensure that Saints Medical Center remains a financially strong hospital that provides world-class care and acts as an economic engine for the Greater Lowell community."
The sale of Saints Medical Center is worth $98 million. Officials said the for-profit acquisition will not affect the 1,300 employee jobs at Saints, according to the article.
The Saints deal follows a rash of Massachusetts hospital deals. A decade from now, it's likely that only three major players will be left in the state's healthcare arena, according to Robert Blendon, professor of health policy and political analysis, Harvard School of Public Health, in a Kaiser article.
"There are mergers, consolidations, groups merging with larger groups, so when negotiations come, there are going to be very large players, even larger than the systems that most people envision," he said.
To learn more:
- check out The Boston Globe article
- here's the AP article
- read the Kaiser article