Mercy picked to buy Jewish Hospital for $180M

The agreement comes after an 18-month search for a new partner that will secure the future the 160-year-old Jewish Hospital, officials said.

“Jewish Hospital must be aligned with a clinically sound and financially strong health care system to ensure its long-term vitality in an increasingly complex health care environment,” said Gary Heiman, president of the Jewish Foundation. “In joining Mercy Health Partners, Jewish Hospital will have a powerful partner who appreciates our hospital’s value and unique heritage.”

With the completion of the deal, Jewish Hospital would join Catholic Healthcare Partners, the largest health system in Ohio and one of the largest nonprofit health care systems in the United States. It has been part of the Health Alliance since 1995.

Mercy Health Partners, its Cincinnati-based health system, is a growing $750 million, five-hospital system that serves the entire region, officials said.

“Mercy Health Partners recognizes the strength of Jewish Hospital, the extraordinary quality of clinical care delivered by its staff and physicians, and its bright future within a system of hospitals that serve a growing region,” said James May, president and CEO of Mercy Health Partners and Divisional CEO of Catholic Healthcare Partners.

“Mercy Health Partners will honor the hospital’s unique Jewish heritage and we pledge to protect it as we move forward with Jewish Hospital into the future.”

May said adding Jewish Hospital to Mercy Health Partners builds on its commitment to the community and effort to expand service areas to include Kenwood and the surrounding communities.

The split with the Health Alliance comes two years after St. Luke and Christ hospitals won a lengthy legal battle to leave the health network.

The departure of St. Luke and Christ hospitals, and the sale of Jewish Hospital led Fort Hamilton officials to announce plans recently to split from the Health Alliance, too, after an 11-year partnership with the health network.

Fort Hamilton is the smallest and least profitable hospital in the alliance. And officials fear the hospital’s needs will get lost with the upcoming changes.

“With Jewish Hospital possibly leaving and with the health alliance looking at moving toward a university focus and that’s not a bad thing, but that may not meet our needs,’’ said Lynn Oswald, senior vice president of Fort Hamilton.