Health System Merger to Create Large Post-Acute, Home Health Platform

Mercy Health and Bon Secours Health System have agreed to merge, which would create one of the largest health systems in the country. Its post-acute and senior care arm would include more than 50 home health agencies, hospice agencies, skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) and assisted living communities.

Based in Cincinnati, Mercy Health is the largest nonprofit health system in Ohio, serving four counties in the Buckeye State as well as locations in Northern Kentucky. The system has assets of $6.8 billion and has 26 post-acute locations or agencies, including SNFs, assisted living facilities and home health/hospice providers. For the nine months ending September 30, 2017, the system had conducted 172,350 home health visits and 155,317 hospice visits, according to a quarterly financial report.

With headquarters in Marriottsville, Maryland, Bon Secours has operations in Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, Florida and New York. In 2016, it reported $117 million in income from operations. It has 27 post-acute facilities or agencies, including five nursing care facilities, four assisted living facilities and 14 home care and hospice providers.

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The organizations did not disclose financial details of the merger. A finalized agreement is expected to be reached and completed by the end of 2018, according to a press release issued Wednesday.

“We are guided by our shared faith and commitment to partner with communities to create a more humane world, build social justice for all, especially the poor and dying,” stated Sister Patricia A. Eck, chairperson of Bon Secours Ministries, in the release.

The combined entity would be the fifth-largest Catholic health system in the country and one of the 20 largest systems overall, with more than $8 billion in net operating revenue.

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Other nonprofit health systems also have been combining of late, gaining scale to become more competitive as the health care system overall places a premium on more coordinated services. In August 2017, Presence Health—the largest Catholic health system in Illinois—was acquired by a joint venture of Ascension, the largest non-profit health system in the United States.

Written by Tim Mullaney

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