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Friday, April 02, 2010

University Community Health, Adventist Health explore merger


Wednesday, March 31, 2010, 2:50pm EDT

University Community Health, Adventist Health explore merger

Tampa Bay Business Journal - by Margie Manning Senior Staff Writer

Adventist Health System and University Community Health have signed a non-binding letter of intent to explore a possible merger of the two systems.

The merger potentially could be completed this summer, pending completion of due diligence and any regulatory review, said Norm Stein, president and chief executive officer of UCH.

The merger would give Adventist, based in Winter Park and the largest not-for-profit Protestant health care provider in the United States, a big boost in market share in the Tampa Bay area.

University Community Health, which includes University Community Hospital, University Community Hospital-Carrollwood, Pepin Heart Hospital and Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital, accounts for about 9 percent of inpatient discharges and 9 percent of total acute-care beds in the Bay area, according to a February market review by HealthLeaders-InterStudy.

Adventist supports 37 hospitals, but only one of them — Florida Hospital Zephyrhills — is in the Bay area.

A merger would give Adventist an opportunity to grow on the partnerships and relationships UCH has in place, said Christine Stewart, communications manager for Adventist.

The two systems already are working together on a joint venture to build Wesley Chapel Medical Center, a health care complex in Pasco County. That joint venture relationship, formed in 2007, allowed the boards of UCH and Adventist to work together and get to know each other, Stein said.

The economic downturn has prompted some consolidation in the health care industry, but succession planning, more than dollars and cents, played a role in the potential Adventist-UCH merger, Stein said.

“At one point last year, I announced my retirement,” he said. Discussions with Adventist about a merger emerged as part of the planning process the UCH board undertook. “This was driven not out of financial need but out of the value of being able to work together more efficiently.”

Stein, who will turn 65 in April, plans to step down once the deal is completed. A new market manager would be named, but that person has not yet been identified. Adventist’s goal would be to not disrupt patient care and at this point does not intend to have any layoffs of staff reductions, although details remain to be worked out, Stewart said UCH reported $7.8 million in operating income on revenue of $502.5 million for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2009, a dramatic turnaround from the $7.3 million operating loss in the year-earlier period. Adventist had revenue of $5.5 billion and total earnings after expenses of $233.5 million for the year ended Dec. 31, 2008, the most recent available.
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