The University of California, Irvine (UCI) has agreed to pay $975 million in cash for Tenet Healthcare Corp.’s four-hospital Pacific Coast Network, which will become part of UCI Health, the clinical enterprise of UC Irvine.
If the deal meets regulatory approvals, clearances, and closing conditions, the proposed acquisition would bring four medical centers in Lakewood, Los Alamitos, Fountain Valley and Placentia and associated outpatient locations into the UCI Health system. UCI Health currently delivers care at the 459-bed, UCI Medical Center in Orange and a growing network of multispecialty care centers.
Based in Dallas, publicly traded Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) has a care delivery network that includes United Surgical Partners International, the largest ambulatory platform in the country, which operates or has ownership interests in more than 480 ambulatory surgery centers and surgical hospitals. It also operate 58 acute care and specialty hospitals, approximately 110 other outpatient facilities, a network of employed physicians and a global business center in Manila, Philippines. Its Conifer Health Solutions subsidiary provides revenue cycle management and value-based care services.
Last November, Tenet entered into an agreement to sell three hospitals and related operations in South Carolina for approximately $2.4 billion in cash to Novant Health.
“At UCI Health, we are excited to add these new care sites to the UCI Health network and extend the benefits of our compassionate, high-level care, clinical innovation, and scientific discovery,” said Chad Lefteris, president and chief executive officer of UCI Health, in a statement “As Orange County’s only academic health system, UCI Health is unique in its ability to offer the highest level of advanced care powered by the research and innovation of a world-class public research institution.”
UCI Health operates the only Level I trauma center, locally based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal-neonatal service and is the largest regional burn center and leading provider of complex tertiary and quaternary care.
The acquisition means more patients will have access to advanced therapies in the region’s largest and most diverse portfolio of clinical trials, ranging from cancer to neurosciences, digestive diseases, orthopedics and internal medicine specialties, according to UCI Health.
