St. Mary's Medical Center Story Archives - Page 3 of 3

Antitrust Agreement Sets Conditions for Merger of Huntington Hospitals

Cabell-Huntington Hospital is one step closer to acquiring St. Mary’s Medical Center. An antitrust agreement filed by Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office establishes a series of conditions for the acquisition.

At a news conference Friday, Morrisey said the agreement ensures the merger follows state and federal law while also providing access to affordable health care in the area through economic competition.

In November, the hospitals agreed to merge after the Catholic-affilliated Pallottine Missionary Sisters announced in August 2014 that they were dropping their 90-year sponsorship of St. Mary’s.

Among other conditions in the agreement, Cabell-Huntington agrees that St. Mary’s will continue to operate as a free-standing, faith-based organization for seven years. Neither hospital would be able to increase service rates beyond the benchmarks established by the West Virginia Health Care Authority.

Additionally, if the combined operating margins of both hospitals exceed an average of 4 percent during any three year period, the hospitals’ rates will be reduced by the excess for the following three years.

While the Attorney General’s filing does not tie into the Federal Trade Commissions’ review of the acquisition, Morrisey said he hopes his office’s actions accelerates the FTC’s review of the case.

St. Mary’s has more than 2,600 employees and Cabell-Huntington has more than 2,500 employees, making them the first and second biggest employers in Cabell County.

Morrisey was joined for the announcement of the filing by Rep. Evan Jenkins, who said the filing will protect the interest of those in need of health care as well as those employed by the hospitals.

Cabell Huntington Hospital Announces Agreement to Assume Control of St. Mary’s

Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary’s will soon work together in Huntington.Cabell Huntington Hospital and the Pallotine Sisters who control the St.…

Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary’s will soon work together in Huntington.

Cabell Huntington Hospital and the Pallotine Sisters who control the St. Mary’s Medical center have signed an agreement that transfers control of St. Mary’s to Cabell Huntington Hospital.

Both hospitals say the hope is that by working together they will be able to provide more affordable healthcare to the region..

Now that an agreement has been reached, the hospitals will wait for the Federal Trade Commission to review the competitive implications of the transaction.

Then the West Virginia Healthcare Authority will review the transaction and then Attorney General Patrick Morrisey will meet with the hospitals as part of the review process.

Cabell Huntington Explores Aquiring St. Mary's

Cabell Huntington Hospital is exploring an acquisition of St. Mary's Medical Center.Cabell Huntington said Tuesday in a news release that it is discussing…

Cabell Huntington Hospital is exploring an acquisition of St. Mary’s Medical Center.

Cabell Huntington said Tuesday in a news release that it is discussing a potential acquisition with Pallottine Health Services, Inc., which operates St. Mary’s.

Both hospitals are located in Huntington. St. Mary’s has 393 beds and is the largest private employer in Cabell County. Cabell Huntington has 303 beds.

Cabell Huntington and Pallottine Health Services say they believe a merger would improve the delivery of health care services.

St. Mary’s CEO Michael Sellards said in the release that the Pallotine Missionary Sisters have decided to end their sponsorship of the hospital. He attributed the decision to a changing health care climate and fewer sisters to oversee the organization’s health care ministries.

Huntington Groups Taking Fitness to the Next Level

Exercise advocates in the Huntington area are hoping to take advantage of the popularity of health related events this summer.

Several groups in Huntington have decided the next step in the area’s continued focus on health consciousness should be the designation of a summer day to celebrate fitness.

So the United Way, Huntington YMCA, Cabell Huntington Hospital, St. Mary’s Hospital, the City of Huntington and the Cabell County Commission have worked together to create the first United Day of Fitness – scheduled in June.

The day-long fitness event will feature the Herald-Dispatch West Virginia 5K Championship in the morning, followed by St. Mary’s Senior Games and the YMCA Family Fun fest featuring kids’ Olympics, activities, and a concert. Andy Fisher is vice president of the YMCA Board of Directors. He said it’s just another step in what’s become a mission of many Huntingtonians that includes the YMCA’s new Kids in Motion program.

“We do need to keep promoting healthy fitness and activity here in this area,” Fisher said. “We got a black eye a few years ago and I think things are starting to improve and this is just one thing that can help in that.”

The events will take place Saturday June 21st throughout Huntington. Fisher says there was definitely a need to seize the momentum that’s been present since being labeled the unhealthiest city in the country in 2008- and build off of it.

The West Virginia 5K will start the day at 8 a.m. in downtown Huntington. Race organizers hope the event, now in its fifth year, will attract even higher numbers than the 700 people that took part last year. The run started as a way to combat the unhealthiest label and has raised $40,000 for United Way. Kaylin Adkins is the Marketing Director for the United Way of the River Cities. Adkins said Huntington is paying more attention to the dangerous condition of obesity.

“I think that people are more aware that there is an issue, I think before it could be swept under the table or people didn’t realize that obesity was a problem,” Adkins said. “I think that we kind of get blinded when we’re around something so much, that we didn’t realize people were unhealthy.”

Adkins said you can see it’s important for the city to continue to expand these fitness opportunities to accommodate the growing number of participants. She said the events are purposefully targeting all age groups – children to seniors.

Fisher hopes this is just the beginning for the area.

“It just seems more and more opportunities are open and available for people to get out and do things as a group or individually which makes our whole community vibrant and I think it’s very, very necessary to have that,” Fisher said.