Despite Federal Trade Commission efforts to block a partnership between ProMedica and St. Luke's Hospital in Ohio, the Toledo- based health system signed an agreement to form a long-term relationship with Memorial Hospital in Fremont, ProMedica announced Friday.
The relationship won't be finalized until the Ohio Attorney General reviews it, which could take two to three months.
"Both organizations have community-based, Mission-driven cultures," ProMedica President and CEO Randy Oostra said Friday in a statement."By collaborating and expanding our clinical expertise, as well as broadening access to needed services, residents of northwest Ohio will experience more effective and efficient care."
Not-for-profit ProMedica runs 11 hospitals in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan. However, the FTC in March said the health system must give up St. Luke's Hospital within six months. ProMedica plans to appeal to a federal court.
As ProMedica waits for the state Attorney General's Office to review the Memorial Hospital partnership, the health system is looking to build a new hangar at the Sandusky County (Ohio) Regional Airport for air and ground ambulances, The News-Messenger reported. The system's 25-ambulance fleet transports patients between ProMedica facilities but occasionally answers on-scene calls, ProMedica Transportation Network President Gary Cates told the newspaper.
According to estimates, building a new facility would cost $1.5 million and restoring an existing hangar would cost $500,000.
To learn more:
- here's ProMedica's announcement
- read the News-Messenger article