Michigan Hospitals Are Merging – What Does It Mean for You?
Last week, the news broke that two major Michigan hospitals have been working on a merge, and the deal was finally made official.
If you are a patient at either of these facilities, though, don’t worry. You may not even notice much of a difference. According to officials, their services aren’t expected to change.
Lansing-based Sparrow Health System announced last week that it has officially joined with the University of Michigan Health. According to a statement, the two hospital groups have “received the necessary regulatory approvals to partner” and officially joined on April 1.
Now, the two have become one of the state’s largest health care systems, valued at $7 billion. The deal also includes Sparrow’s Physicians Health Plan, which gives insurance coverage to more than 70,000 members and 300 employers in Michigan, plus as a Medicare Advantage plan.
“Today is just an absolutely historic day for us,” James F. Dover, president and CEO of the Sparrow Health System, said Monday (April 3) at a news conference. “We’ve worked so long and hard in order to prepare ourselves to be able to officially join the University of Michigan Health System. (I am) very proud of this moment, as well as what the future now offers for us.”
Dover also said that the cost for patients will not rise because of this deal. Patients will also not lose access to their current physicians.
Michigan Medicine, which is the University of Michigan’s health system, announced plans to purchase Sparrow Health System back in December. With the agreement, Michigan Medicine committed $800 million in investments to Sparrow Health System over the next eight years, according to the statement. But, the final deal, they add, isn’t a buy-out. Those funs will go to Sparrow’s six hospital campuses, funding facility projects, operations and other “strategic investments.”
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