For second time in a year, Steward makes deal to sell Utah properties

CommonSpirit Health, a Chicago-based hospital system, has announced that it will acquire Steward Health Care’s facilities in Utah through its wholly owned subsidiary, Catholic Health Initiatives Colorado (CHIC), based in Engelwood, Colorado. Another CommonSpirit-affiliated organization, Centura Health of nearby Centennial, Colorado, will manage the Utah properties.

The purchase agreement includes Dallas-based Steward’s five Utah hospitals, more than 35 medical group clinics and a clinically integrated network of providers. The five Utah hospitals to change hands are Davis Hospital and Medical Center in Layton, Jordan Valley Medical Center in West Jordan, Jordan Valley Medical Center-West Valley Campus, Mountain Point Medical Center in Lehi and Salt Lake Regional Medical Center in Salt Lake City.

The deal marks Steward’s second attempt in the past year to sell the five Utah hospitals. In June, Nashville, Tennessee-based HCA Healthcare and Steward abandoned their proposed deal involving the hospitals 13 days after the Federal Trade Commission challenged the transaction.

“We are excited to welcome the physicians and associates of these essential hospitals, clinics and outpatient ventures to our connected ecosystem of 21,000 incredible people,” said Peter D. Banko, president and CEO of Centura Health. “Returning to the mission, as well as purpose and values-driven leadership, started by the Sisters of the Holy Cross in 1875 in Salt Lake City, will only serve to further build whole-person care and flourishing communities served by these important health ministries. We look forward to supporting, nurturing and learning from the more than 3,000 caregivers and continuing the longstanding legacy of caring for communities throughout Utah.”

CommonSpirit is a nonprofit, Catholic health system with more than 2,000 care sites across 22 states. Centura has been serving the communities of Colorado and western Kansas since 1882, when its health facilities in Durango and Pueblo, Colorado, were founded by a religious order of sisters. Centura includes 20 hospitals, 260 clinics, more than 1,000 Centura Health Physician Group providers, urgent care and emergency centers, Flight for Life and more.

Steward purchased the Utah hospitals in 2017 and has since invested heavily to enhance operations and position these facilities as exceptional performers for the communities of Utah, a Steward statement said.

“We are very proud of the work we’ve accomplished in Utah over the past five years to nurture and grow these community hospitals. We could not have accomplished that without our local team members’ focus on putting patients at the center of everything we do,” said Dr. Ralph de la Torre, Steward chairman and CEO. “While bittersweet, this transition will allow Steward to reinvest in our value-based care model and maximize its impact in other regions while also enabling Centura to leverage its impressive scale to enhance care and improve outcomes for patients in Utah.”

Centura said that when the transaction closes, it will collaborate with community stakeholders and hospital and clinic leadership to build a strategic market plan that enables new clinical care options for patients and explores new opportunities to have a greater impact on the future of healthcare across the three-state region.

“Centura’s vision around health and wholeness for every community, every neighborhood and every life drives its focus to keep care close to home, increase access to care and engage and support its caregivers in delivering high-performing whole-person care,” Centura said in a release.

Centura and Steward will work together to transition employment of associates and employed providers who are in good standing to Centura at the close of the transaction, pending standard regulatory review and approval, the healthcare providers said. Centura will collaborate with hospital leaders and caregivers to ensure a seamless transition for patients with no disruptions to their care.

“We’re excited to extend our healing mission into Utah and bring our approach to whole-person care and clinical excellence to a new region,” said Marvin O’Quinn, CommonSpirit president and chief operating officer. “We’re excited to leverage expertise and resources from across our organization to support the health of these communities. At the same time, this expansion will further support our strategic vision to create an integrated continuum of care in communities where we have a presence.”

At the time of the acquisition announcement, Medical Properties Trust Inc. (MPT), a Birmingham, Alabama, investment firm that owns all the physical properties operated by Steward in Utah, announced that it has agreed to lease its entire Utah hospital portfolio to Catholic Health Initiatives Colorado and CommonSpirit Health.

“These Utah hospitals checked all of the boxes as far as our cornerstone underwriting principles, and this transaction demonstrates that such hospitals not only facilitate attractive real estate returns to MPT but also meet the critical healthcare needs of their communities,” said Edward K. Aldag Jr., chairman, president and CEO of MPT. “The sale of the operations of these hospitals is a great outcome for Steward and we are delighted to begin a long and successful relationship with CHIC.”

The purchase price of the acquisition of operations from Steward was not disclosed by the parties.