CLARION, Pa. — Clarion Healthcare System (CHS) and Butler Health System (BHS) have announced that the two organizations have signed an exclusive letter of intent (LOI) to integrate CHS and its affiliates, including Clarion Hospital, into Butler Health System.
A joint release issued early Wednesday evening, states that the CHS board spent many months exploring potential partnerships, identifying a partner that represented “the right cultural fit and a commitment to resources required to maintain and enhance access to the quality care and physicians that the local community has come to expect.”
“Both systems believe that by combining their efforts, they can solidify the future of care in their communities, providing high quality, accessible, and affordable services. The proposed transaction will build upon the strengths of CHS and BHS. By working with BHS, CHS will be in a stronger position to make strategic investments in new programs, services and technology, all of which are important to keeping quality care close to home,” according to the release.
“The Clarion Healthcare System Board, with all of us being from the local community, care deeply about the availability of high quality health care close to home for the people of Clarion County and the surrounding communities and were intent on finding the best path to sustain those services long into the future,” said Fred Port, CHS Board Chair. “We are pleased and excited about this opportunity to partner with Butler Health System to create enhanced services, to increase specialty care and to provide a larger scope of care for our community. Butler Health System has consistently demonstrated a similar vision and culture to ours in preserving locally driven community care.”
Ken DeFurio, President and CEO of Butler Health System, said, “We are very pleased that the leadership of Clarion Healthcare System has decided to partner with us. BHS has worked diligently for many years to prove that affordable, high quality care can and should be provided locally — under the guidance of local leadership and physicians. We have been most impressed as we have come to know the people leading Clarion Healthcare System, and we know that they hold these values as well. We look forward to a very successful future together.”
The two systems will proceed through a period of due diligence, which is expected to take several months. The transaction is subject to negotiation and completion of an executed definitive agreement and required regulatory approvals.
Clarion Healthcare System (CHS) is composed of four affiliates: Clarion Hospital, Health Services of Clarion, Inc., Clarion Development Corporation, Inc., and Clarion Hospital Foundation, all located in Clarion Pennsylvania. Clarion Hospital is a licensed 70-bed community hospital and provides 24-hour emergency department, and includes an eight bed inpatient rehab center, women’s health and birthing services, advanced wound healing hyperbaric center, sleep lab, ICU and a Cancer Center offering chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
Butler Health System (BHS), located in Butler, Pennsylvania, is the parent of Butler Memorial Hospital, its affiliates, and a number of subsidiaries. Butler Memorial hospital is a 326-bed acute-care facility with a broad range of surgical, medical, emergency, and psychiatric services. Butler Health System employs 200 physicians and advanced providers through Butler Medical Providers. BHS includes 72 outpatient locations across eight counties in Western Pennsylvania. BHS employs more than 2500 people. In 2018, Butler Memorial Hospital was named a “100 Top Hospitals in the United States” by IBM Watson Health, and one of the top cardiac surgery programs in the country by U.S. News & World Report. Butler Health System has a number of partnerships throughout Western Pennsylvania. Examples include Bridges Health Partners, Benbrook Ambulatory Surgery Center, UPMC Cancer Center, Concordia Visiting Nurses and Good Samaritan Hospice, and LIFE Butler County/Lutheran Senior Services.
