By SHERRY LOSHNOWSKY, Wabash Plain Dealer
PERU - Dukes Memorial Hospital will soon be part of the largest for-profit hospital organization in the United States.
Triad Hospitals Inc., parent company of Fort Wayne-based Lutheran Health Network, will be sold to Community Health Systems of Franklin, Tenn., in a deal announced by officials from the two companies last week. Lutheran is the parent company of Dukes.
If the $6.8 billion sale is approved by Triad stockholders and meets all federal regulations, it will create the largest publicly traded hospital company in the nation, according to Community Health Systems officials.
Deb Close, CEO of Dukes, said she doesn't expect to see any changes locally as a result of the transaction.
"We look at this as a good thing," she said. "(Community Health Systems') motto is 'Promises made, promises kept' and that goes right along with our mission of bringing quality health care close to home."
Lutheran Health Network operates Dukes; Lutheran, Dupont and St. Joseph hospitals and the Rehabilitation Hospital in Fort Wayne; Kosciusko Community Hospital in Warsaw; and Bluffton Regional Medical Center.
Close noted that CHS operates 77 hospitals in 22 states. According to CHS's Web site, most of these hospitals are located in communities with populations ranging from 20,000 to 400,000. In more than 85 percent of the markets served, CHS-affiliated hospitals are the sole provider of health care services.
Although Triad has 54 hospitals in 17 states and also provides, through a subsidiary, hospital management, consulting and advisory services to more than 170 independent community hospitals and health systems. Triad is based in Plano, Texas.
Terms of the sale of Triad include CHS assuming $1.7 billion of Triad debt, bringing the actual cash purchase price to $5.1 billion, according to Triad's Website.
Although CHS owns a third more hospitals than Triad, CHS' revenue in 2006 was $4.4 billion, compared with Triad's $5.5 billion, according to information provided by company officials.