San Bernardino County’s Prime Healthcare to acquire 12 hospitals
San Bernardino County-based Prime Healthcare is in the process of acquiring 12 hospitals this year and possibly making other acquisitions.
The Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board in mid-December 2024, unanimously approved Prime’s $375 million acquisition of nine Ascension hospitals in the state, Becker’s Hospital Review reported.
The transaction is expected to be completed this quarter, pending approval from the Archdiocese of Chicago since St. Louis-based Ascension is a Catholic health system. The hospitals included in the deal are:
- Ascension Holy Family (Des Plaines)
- Ascension Mercy (Aurora)
- Ascension Resurrection (Chicago)
- Ascension Saint Elizabeth (Chicago)
- Ascension Saint Francis (Evanston)
- Ascension Saint Joseph-Elgin
- Ascension Saint Joseph-Joliet
- Ascension Saint Mary-Chicago
- Ascension Saint Mary-Kankakee
Based in Ontario, Prime Healthcare includes the for-profit Prime Healthcare Services and its nonprofit arm, Prime Healthcare Foundation, which operates 14 hospitals, including Desert Valley Hospital in Victorville.
Under the deal, seven Ascension hospitals will become for-profit. St. Francis in Evanston and St. Mary-Kankakee will remain nonprofit.
“Our operating model typically improves profitability margins at acquired facilities, aligning them with those of our mature hospitals,” Prime CFO Steve Aleman said on the Becker’s Healthcare Podcast. “While transformational change and growth are never easy, everyone at Prime is excited about continuing our successful track record of turning around underperforming facilities. Our goal is to secure these hospitals as vital community assets for generations to come.”
Prime, which currently operates 44 hospitals across 14 states, also has plans to sell Lehigh Regional Medical Center in Lehigh Acres, Florida to Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare and acquire Lewiston-based Central Maine Healthcare, a three-hospital system, by the end of the year, according to Becker’s Hospital Review, an online magazine for hospital news.
Prime Healthcare was founded in 2001 by Dr. Prem Reddy, a physician with “a mission to transform hospitals, improve community healthcare, and provide patients with the best care,” the health care system stated.
Daily Press reporter Rene Ray De La Cruz may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @DP_ReneDeLaCruz
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