RWJBarnabas Health is moving closer to closing a deal that would bring Saint Peter’s Healthcare System into the fold.
The two healthcare systems signed a definitive agreement Thursday to state their "intention to integrate" the two systems. It comes a year after the two organizations first signed a letter of intent to explore a future partnership.
St. Peter's, a Catholic health system, put out a request for proposals in October 2018 saying it was seeking a strategic partner that would allow the organization to maintain its Catholic missions in an increasingly competitive healthcare market.
RWJBarnabas is one of New Jersey’s largest academic health systems with a service area of nine counties covering 5 million people. The system includes 11 acute care hospitals, three acute care children’s hospitals and a pediatric rehabilitation hospital.
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It's part of ongoing growth moves by RWJBarnabas in recent years. Last June, RWJBarnabas and Rutgers solidified their academic medical center partnership with a $750 million cancer center plan. It came less than a year after the two organizations first announced their $1 billion academic medical partnership.
Last October, RWJBarnabas announced it was acquiring another New Jersey-based Catholic health system: Trinitas Regional Medical Center.
Saint Peter’s University Hospital is Saint Peter's 478-bed acute care teaching hospital sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Metuchen. It also has the Children’s Hospital at Saint Peter’s. The health system is one of a few independent Catholic hospitals in the country sponsored by a Roman Catholic diocese.
Under the terms of the agreement, Saint Peter's would remain a full-service acute healthcare provider in New Jersey and continue to adhere to Catholic healthcare mission. RWJBH would make significant strategic capital investments in St. Peter's facilities, technology and innovation.
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“RWJBH has a rich history of providing high quality care to the residents of New Jersey—with our Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital campuses in New Brunswick and Somerville, as well as our Rutgers partners at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, to name but a few—and the inclusion of Saint Peter’s will allow us to only build upon this legacy of service,” said Barry H. Ostrowsky, president and CEO of RWJBarnabas Health, in a statement. “When finalized, we will have the necessary foundation for the creation of our state’s first and only premier academic medical center.”
The proposed partnership will require approval from various state and federal regulatory agencies as well as the Catholic Church.
“We are truly excited about the potential of this opportunity to integrate with RWJBarnabas Health to create a premier academic medical center of national distinction in which Saint Peter’s will share responsibility for leadership and governance,” St. Peter's CEO Les Hirsch said in a statement. “We look forward to collaborating with RWJBarnabas Health and immediately undertaking the planning needed to make this vision a reality while also continuing our ongoing commitment to working collaboratively with community physicians.”