What You Should Know:
– Intermountain Healthcare and SCL Health, two leading nonprofit healthcare organizations, have signed a Letter of Intent to merge and create a model health system that provides high-quality, accessible, and affordable healthcare to more patients and communities in Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, Montana, and Kansas. The intention is that a definitive agreement will be finalized and signed by the end of 2021.
– The pending merger will employ more than 58,000 caregivers, 33 hospitals, 385 clinics across six states and provide health insurance to about one million people. Intermountain and SCL Health currently provide services in adjacent areas with no geographic overlap.
HQ and Executive Leadership
The merged health system will be headquartered in Salt Lake City, with a regional office in Broomfield, Colorado. Dr. Marc Harrison of Intermountain will serve as president and CEO of the merged organization. Lydia Jumonville of SCL Health will remain in her current role during a two-year integration and serve as a board member on a new combined board to ensure the integration of the two systems. The newly integrated Board of Trustees and leadership team will be selected from both systems.
“We’re excited to merge with SCL Health to usher in a new frontier for the health of communities throughout the Intermountain West and beyond,” said Marc Harrison, MD, president and CEO of Intermountain. “American healthcare needs to accelerate the evolution toward population health and value, and this merger will swiftly advance that cause across a broader geography. We’ll bring together the best practices of both organizations to do even more to enhance clinical excellence, transform the patient experience, and support healthy lives.”
Under the Letter of Intent, while the organization will be named Intermountain Healthcare, SCL Health’s Catholic hospitals will retain their distinctive Catholic names and continue to operate according to existing practices. In addition to seven Catholic hospitals, SCL Health operates one secular hospital in Colorado. The merger of the two companies is expected to close in early 2022, pending approvals.
SCL Health Background
SCL Health is a faith-based, nonprofit healthcare system of eight hospitals, 160 physician clinics, and 16,000 employees. Founded by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth in 1864, SCL Health today provides comprehensive, coordinated care at its hospitals, clinics, home health, hospice, mental health, and safety-net locations in Colorado, Montana, and Kansas
“SCL Health and Intermountain are pursuing our merger from positions of strength,” said Lydia Jumonville, president and CEO of SCL Health. “We are two individually strong health systems that are seeking to increase care quality, accessibility, and affordability. We will advance our missions and better serve the entire region together.”
