Hospital sale expected to be settled today

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.comBusiness Writer

WILKES-BARRE – The sale of the Wyoming Valley Health Care System to a for-profit healthcare company is expected to close today, a system spokesman said.

The $271 million deal announced in August 2008 and approved earlier this month by a Luzerne County judge will make WVHCS a subsidiary of Community Health Systems of Franklin, Tenn.

Kevin McDonald, a spokesman for WVHCS, said Wednesday “everything is on schedule.” A press release would be issued today to announce the closing, he said.

Calls to CHS were not returned.

The change in ownership will make the 410-bed Wilkes-Barre General Hospital the 10th Pennsylvania hospital operated by CHS.

Also included in the deal are First Hospital Wyoming Valley, CHOICES, Community Counseling Services, Heritage House, Wyoming Valley Manor, the Visiting Nurse Association, United Health and Hospital Services among others.

Active employees will be offered their jobs at their current pay. Doctors in good standing will continue to have staff privileges at WBGH and First Hospital Wyoming Valley.

WVHCS is the largest employer in Luzerne County.

As part of the deal, the new owner will invest more than $135 million in capital improvements within WVHCS over seven years.

Care to the indigent will continue for 10 years and a foundation to oversee millions of dollars for charitable care also will remain in place. The existing foundation could continue or a new one established.

The charitable care was an issue in the sale and a representative of the state Office of Attorney General asked that the foundation be monitored for five years.

Luzerne County Orphan’s Court Judge Joseph Augello granted the request at the hearing on April 7.

The court and attorney general’s office were drawn in because of the nature of the sale: a nonprofit entity to a for-profit company.

CHS, which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol CYH, operates 121 hospitals in 29 states and has approximately 18,000 licensed beds. The closest CHS facility is the Berwick Hospital Center in Columbia County.