Prime wraps up purchase of St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron hospital, pledges to invest in business

Image of St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron Hospital from Facebook.

Prime Healthcare on Tuesday wrapped up its $17.5 million purchase of the St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron hospital and several other facilities from Trinity Health.

The 144-bed hospital, located in Port Huron, Michigan, will be renamed the Lake Huron Medical Center. Officials said the hospital treated more than 20,000 patients in its emergency department in 2014 and performed nearly 6,000 surgeries.

Under terms of the deal, Prime, the nation's fifth-largest for-profit healthcare provider, will invest $20 million in capital improvements over the next three years. Prime must also at a minimum keep existing charity care programs in place and commit to running the People's Clinic for Better Health, which caters to poorer and underserved patients.

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Medical Properties Trust, a healthcare-focused real estate investment trust, financed the deal.

St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron recently earned a three-star rating from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services based on its recent Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey scores. In 2014, the hospital was one of 721 fined by CMS for medical errors.

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In addition to the Port Huron hospital, the sale included several other facilities that will now be run by Prime. They are Mercy Health Center in Fort Gratiot, renamed Lake Huron Medical Center North; Mercy FITRAC in Marysville, Port Huron and Fort Gratiot; renamed Lake Huron Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Services; Mercy Physician Partners in Marysville, Port Huron and Fort Gratiot, renamed the Lake Huron Medical Group; Lakeshore Surgery Center, and Advanced MRI.

Prime runs 34 hospitals across the country.

Twitter: @HenryPowderly