Pa., Mich., Catholic hospital chains mull merger

NEWTOWN SQUARE, Pa. -- Two Catholic health systems are mulling a merger.

Catholic Health East of Newtown Square, and Trinity Health of Novi, Mich., announced Wednesday that they have signed a non-binding letter of intent to consolidate.

They said the merger would create a health system of more than 87,000 employees in 21 states with 82 hospitals, 89 continuing care facilities and home health and hospice programs. The new system would have annual operating revenues of about $13 billion and assets of about $19 billion, and would return almost $1 billion to its communities annually in the form of charity care and other programs, the organizations said in a joint written statement.

Joseph Swedish, president and CEO of Trinity Health, would become president and CEO of the post-merger organization and Judith Persichilli, president and CEO of Catholic Health East, would become executive vice president.

"To serve people best in today's health care environment, health systems must have ready access to resources and ideas across the broad spectrum of care, and this consolidation would help us achieve that goal with an exceptional national network," Swedish said.

A merger "will enhance our ability to create innovative models of care and advance clinical quality across the continuum," Persichilli said.

The boards and management of Catholic Health East and Trinity Health said they hope to reach an official agreement in the spring. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Trinity Health operates 47 acute care hospitals in 10 states and has annual revenue of $9 billion.

Catholic Health East has 35 hospitals in 11 states with annual revenue of $4.3 billion.