CHARLESTON, W.Va. — An agreement regarding rates, employees and wellness initiatives are part of Cabell Huntington Hospital’s plans to purchase fellow Huntington-based facility St. Mary’s Medical Center.
The agreement encouraged by state Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s Antitrust Division was announced by Morrisey Friday at the state capitol.
“We view this as a positive thing,” Morrisey said on MetroNews ‘Talkline’. “We know the parties cooperated extensively with us. This was a good process.”
Cabell Huntington announced its intentions last November to purchase St. Mary’s. It’s part of the duties of the attorney general’s office to make sure antitrust laws are not violated in those types of agreements, Morrisey said.
“We have to always guarantee that competition is going to be as robust as possible. That’s how we approached this issue,” Morrisey said.
Under the agreement, St. Mary’s will remain a free-standing, faith-based hospital for at least seven years. Also during that period, neither hospital will increase patient rates above a benchmark rate set by the state Health Care Authority.
“Usually when you have mergers you have to be concerned by higher health care prices,” Morrisey said. “We wanted to say if these two entities were going to come together there should be some restrictions and consumers shouldn’t have top pay for this combination.”
The agreement, according to Morrisey, is the state giving its approval to the merger and standing by the hospitals as the deal is reviewed by the Federal Trade Commission, which has the say on final approval.
Other conditions of the deal released Friday by Morrisey’s office include:
–If the combined operating margins of the hospitals exceed an average of 4 percent during any three-year period, the hospitals’ rates will be reduced by the amount of excess for the following three years.
–Both hospitals will release employees from any non-compete agreements following the termination of their employment.
–The hospitals will maintain open staffs and grant privileges to all qualified physicians, and not terminate privileges to those who start offering services in competition to the hospitals (excluding groups that historically have operated under exclusive agreements).
–The hospitals will not oppose the award of a certificate of need by the state Health Care Authority to any health care provider that seeks to provide services in their market area (excluding the request from any inpatient hospital that does not accept Medicaid and/or uninsured patients.
The hospitals also agree to the following conditions to improve access and enhance the quality of health care:
–Implement community wellness programs that will reach out to medically under-served areas, and report details on these programs each year to the Attorney General’s Office.
–Develop quality and population health goals, including Centers of Excellence with quantitative benchmarks and a proposed timeline to be submitted to the Attorney General within six months of closing the transaction.
–Establish a fully integrated and interactive medical record system at both facilities so that patient encounters can be readily available to physicians at both hospitals.
–Notify the Attorney General’s Office within 90 days of any proposed addition or deletion of any health care service line.
–Continue to accept Ohio and Kentucky Medicaid patients at in-state provider rates established by those states.