OSF Healthcare buys majority stake in Illinois Kindred hospital

Photo: Mikolette/Getty Images

Kentucky-based Kindred Healthcare and OSF Healthcare have received approval from state regulators in Illinois to jointly own the Greater Peoria Specialty Hospital, which will now be known as the OSF HealthCare Transitional Care Hospital, located in Peoria. 

OSF will have majority ownership of the hospital. Financial details were not disclosed.

WHAT'S THE IMPACT?

The revamped hospital will include 18 long-term acute care (LTAC) beds and a 29-bed acute rehabilitation unit. The LTAC portion of the hospital will continue to deliver care for difficult-to-treat, critically ill and medically complex patients – such as patients with respiratory failure, septicemia, traumatic injuries, wounds or other severe illnesses complicated by multiple chronic conditions, including post-COVID-19 recovery.

The rehabilitation unit will help adults who have experienced a loss of function or disability due to stroke, brain injury, spinal cord injury, neurological disorders, orthopedic surgery and other conditions, the systems said. 

It will also feature all private rooms and provide intense, interdisciplinary rehabilitation therapies and medical care to improve functional independence and help the patient return home.

Mike Warrington, president of Kindred's Hospital Division, said in a statement that replacing some of the LTAC beds with acute rehabilitation beds and a therapy gym will create a combination of services that will more appropriately meet the local demand.

While LTAC services will continue to be provided during the hospital's transition, Kindred and OSF expect to begin offering the combination of LTAC and rehabilitation services by September 1, 2022, following the completion of renovations to the facility.

THE LARGER TREND

In June, LifePoint Health entered into an agreement to acquire Kindred, signaling the creation of a healthcare delivery network that allows LifePoint to tap into Kindred's specialty hospital and rehabilitative expertise, as well as its emerging behavioral health platform.

A sales price for the transaction was not disclosed, but the companies did reveal that LifePoint plans to invest roughly $1.5 billion over the next three years to advance healthcare delivery in the regions in which it operates.

The two companies cited several benefits to joining forces, including an array of complementary services, standardized care at the bedside, opportunities to develop and expand behavioral health services, and investments in services and technology in new and existing markets.

Earlier this year, Kindred's home health operations were integrated into Humana's Home Solutions business, taking on the same branding as Humana's new payer-agnostic health services arm, transitioning to CenterWell Home Health. Humana is now the sole owner of Kindred at Home.

Humana plans to use a combination of cash and debt financing to pay for the $5.7 billion transactions.
 

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Email the writer: jeff.lagasse@himssmedia.com