St. Joseph Health and Providence Health and Services have received regulatory approval for a merger that will create the nation’s third-largest nonprofit health system, officials said Wednesday.
The California Attorney General’s office signed off on the deal between the two nonprofit Catholic hospital chains. The new entity, Providence St. Joseph Health, will include 16 St. Joseph hospitals, including five in Orange County, and 34 Providence hospitals, including six in Los Angeles County.
Providence is based in Renton, Wash. The companies sought a partnership in order to expand services and improve clinical outcomes through shared expertise.
Mireille Jacobson, director of the Center for Health Care Management and Policy at UCI’s Paul Merage School of Business, said the merger could be a draw for employers and insurers.
“St Joe’s is in Orange County but employees of a firm that contracts with St. Joe’s, for example, may not live in Orange County,” Jacobson said in an email. “Their network is more attractive if it now includes Providence facilities in the South Bay. These systems may complement each other in other ways but geography is a key way.”
Irvine-based St. Joseph issued a statement praising the decision but declined to comment further, saying it would “take time to review the conditions carefully and have more information to share soon.”
The attorney general’s office released a 385-page document outlining requirements for the deal, including that Providence St. Joseph Health launch a three-year, $30 million mental health initiative in California that will address depression, addiction, homelessness and other issues.
The merger includes hospitals in Northern California, Texas, New Mexico, Alaska, Montana, Oregon and Washington.
The Orange County hospitals are St. Joseph in Orange, Mission in Mission Viejo and Laguna Beach, St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton, and Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach and Irvine.
Providence owns Little Company of Mary Hospital in San Pedro and Little Company of Mary Medical Center in Torrance.
Contact the writer: cperkes@ocregister.com 714-796-3686
