HCA transferring ownership of Okla. hospitals for $750 million

Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) will be giving up ownership of the Oklahoma University Medical Center (OUMC) and OUMC Edmund to the University Hospitals Authority and Trust (UHAT), with a separate agreement with SSM Healthcare of Oklahoma creating a new nonprofit to manage day-to-day operations as part of a new integrated care network.

Nashville-based HCA will receive $750 million for transferring ownership, as well as terminating its lease of OUMC’s children’s hospital and ending a joint operating agreement with UHAT.

“For almost 20 years, we have collaborated with our partners at UHAT to provide leading quality care and to enhance the range of services available to the greater Oklahoma City community,” HCA COO Sam Hazen said in a statement. “We believe this relationship has been a successful example of how a public entity and a private entity can partner to improve overall performance. We wish them the best in their future endeavors.”

The future involves a new partnership with SSM, which operates the 601-bed St. Anthony Hospital in Oklahoma City. SSM and UHAT announced the creation of a new integrated care network involving 23 hospitals in Oklahoma, including OUMC, with a combined 1,100 physicians and providers.

 “I think this will make a great difference,” OU President David Boren said to The Oklahaman. “What this will do for medical education in Oklahoma, patient care, access to patient care, quality of patient care, as we make these investments, as we plow the money back in. We can build something that will have a reputation far beyond this region. We will build a model of a hospital system with an academic center that will really be a model for the rest of the country.”

The transactions are expected to close early next year.