The boards of Baylor Health System and Scott & White Healthcare have approved the signing of an agreement of intent to combine their health systems, creating a $7.7 billion organization. The new system, to be called Baylor Scott & White Health, will include 42 hospitals, 350 patient care sites, and 4,000 active physicians, making it the largest not-for-profit health system in Texas. The anticipated agreement is expected to be completed in 2013.
According to the announcement, the combined health system will be better able to deliver care at a time of declining reimbursement, high levels of information management, an increasing demand for primary care services, and population health management to advance the wellness of large groups of patients and keep them out of the hospital. The merger agreement is part of a rapidly growing trend: since 2008, there have been 274 mergers and acquisitions transactions affecting 439 hospitals, up nearly 22 percent over the previous four-year span, according to Baylor.
Under the agreement, the new organization will be led by a single executive leadership team, with Joel Allison, president and CEO of Baylor Health Care System as CEO and Robert Pryor, M.D., president and CEO of Scott & White Healthcare, as president and COO of the new organization. The new system will have two operating divisions that will be consolidated over time. The Scott & White division will be headquartered in Temple, Texas and the Baylor Division will be headquartered in Dallas. The medical staffs will remain independent.
