Tacoma-based Franciscan Health System might be getting a new layer of corporate management.
Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives, Franciscan’s parent organization, announced Friday that it plans to form a new health system to serve the Northwest by partnering with Vancouver, Wash.-based PeaceHealth.
Patients of Franciscan Health System will see no changes for quite awhile. The two parent organizations signed a nonbinding letter of intent and expect to form the new system before June 30 of next year, according to a news release.
Discussions to form the new system “were prompted by a rapidly changing health care environment” that “demands the ability to accept more financial risk in caring for defined populations, such as Medicaid recipients.”
A larger system can have economies of scale, from purchasing power on services to back-office work such as information technology systems.
Catholic Health operates seven hospitals in Washington and Oregon, including those owned by Franciscan.
PeaceHealth operates four hospitals in Washington: St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham; St. John Medical Center in Longview; Southwest Medical Center in Vancouver; and Peace Island Medical Center in Friday Harbor, which is scheduled to open in November.
The new organization will include nearly 26,000 employees and about 950 employed physicians, according to the release.
It will have annual revenues of almost $4 billion.
“As a part of Catholic Health Initiatives, we believe this partnership will expand and sustain our healing ministry that has been essential to the quality of life in our South Puget Sound communities since 1891,” Joe Wilczek, Franciscan’s CEO, said in the release.
“This is exciting news for the Franciscan organization and the communities we serve.”
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