Sale of Granite City hospital to LA-based group is final. What changes are in store?
Gateway Regional Medical Center in Granite City now belongs to a Los Angeles healthcare corporation, after its acquisition became final on Wednesday.
LA-based American Healthcare Systems signed an asset purchase agreement with Gateway Regional in November.
“We are so pleased to welcome American Healthcare Systems to our community,” said Rosemarie Brown, board chair at Gateway Regional Medical Center. “We are confident AHS shares our passion for expanding access to healthcare systems and equally committed to providing quality and compassionate care to the patients we serve.”
AHS specializes in community-based hospitals and outpatient clinics. It also recently acquired South City Hospital in St. Louis; Crossroads Community Hospital in Mount Vernon; Heartland Regional Medical Center in Marion; Union County Hospital in Anna; and Red Bud Regional Hospital, along with its skilled nursing facility.
Until the acquisition, Gateway Regional was part of the Tennessee-based Quorum Health Care. It will be the largest facility in AHS, which describes itself as a “community-based hospital system” with facilities in North Carolina, Illinois and Missouri.
“Gateway is excited for this next step in advancing healthcare services in Granite and the surrounding communities,” said Gateway CEO Shane Watson. “We will continue to build on a history of high-quality, patient-centered care and are looking forward to bringing continued support to the community.”
The primary goal at the moment is a smooth transition, both for patients and staff, according to AHS CEO Michael Sarian.
“In healthcare it may seem that change is our only constant,” he said. “There are new systems to learn, cultures to adopt, protocols and care processes to share and so much more.”
Sarian said there will be an “ongoing focus on growing and expanding quality services” in Madison County, but specific changes have not been announced.
Gateway Regional Medical Center is a 278-bed hospital that includes 100 beds for behavioral health. That unit, along with 36 beds at Touchette Regional Hospital in Cahokia Heights, are the only beds for inpatient psychiatric care in the metro-east, which serves more than 500,000.
The Touchette center was added in 2015 to address the shortage of behavioral health inpatient care in the metro-east, but at the same time St. Elizabeth’s closed its behavioral health ward and another 39 beds were lost when Kenneth Hall Regional Hospital closed in East St. Louis, leaving the metro-east largely reliant on Gateway Regional for inpatient care.
Gateway Regional Medical Center employs 705 people, including the ambulatory surgery center and associated physician practices.