We are disappointed that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted to issue an administrative complaint challenging the St. Luke's Hospital and ProMedica joinder.
The joinder has enabled St. Luke's, an organization that was in financial distress, to continue to fulfill its mission of providing care for the community. The joinder will provide tremendous benefits to the community, including increasing patients' access to care, enhancing clinical integration and creating efficiencies in delivering care.
For the healthcare industry to move forward with the mandates of healthcare reform, and to provide increased efficiencies and enhanced care, organizations across the country need to accelerate a process of service line and clinical integration.
This action by the FTC is inconsistent with the integration and coordination that healthcare reform both encourages and requires.
This joinder has gone through a rigorous due diligence process. We have cooperated with the FTC throughout its lengthy and expensive investigation. However, we will vigorously continue to make our case and pursue our rights, because this joinder is the right thing to do for St. Luke's, for ProMedica, and most importantly, for the patients and communities we serve.