Intermountain Healthcare and SCL Health have officially joined forces, the nonprofit health system said Tuesday.

Estimated $14 billion joint organization Operates 33 hospitals, 385 clinics and a 1 million member health plan in seven states with approximately 59,000 employees.Colorado Attorney General’s Office sign Regarding last week’s merger.

“SCL Health is After the Sanford mergerThe best thing that comes out of this is that SCL knows our growth in the market,” Intermountain CEO Dr. Mark Harrison said in an interview. “They are an organization that gets approached time and time again and never gets interested. , but they want to join us because of our quality footprint, our commitment to digital innovation and value, and the benefits of having a wellness program in the toolbox. ”

According to the attorney general, there are “adequate safeguards” in the merger agreement that will maintain the same level of health care delivery throughout Colorado and maintain SCL’s charitable mission. review.

Both organizations agreed that “there will be no major redundancies or layoffs” and that clinical facilities will not be merged. Attorney General Phil Weiser recused, but did not disclose, due to a potential conflict of interest.

“Both organizations are very careful about headcount and run very lean and efficient,” said Harrison, who will lead the combined system. “Some people will choose to leave, but we don’t want to lose any talent.”

in Salt Lake City Valley is the parent company of the combined system and is governed by a 16-member board of directors – 12 from Intermountain and 4 from SCL, which is headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. According to the merged document reviewed by the attorney general, the autonomous regional executive teams will “maintain primary oversight of their respective operations” and bring them into the central committee.

Intermountain will gradually introduce its brand to SCL facilities. SCL’s Catholic entities, including St. Joseph’s Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center, will continue to maintain ties with the Catholic Church. Intermountain will remain secular.

For SelectHealth health plans, the combined system won’t disrupt current payer relationships, Harrison said. “If SelectHealth works, and if it works, we’ll have a market-by-market footprint,” he said.

The mountains can continue Expands its telehealth network In its broader footprint, Harrison said.it uses this technology to Expand the skills of its experts Access small community hospitals and rural areas where it is difficult to recruit doctors.

“We believe the future is a hybrid healthcare system that’s click-and-go,” Harrison said. “There will always be people who need to be cared for in hospitals and emergency departments, but this gives us the opportunity to expand our digital ecosystem across the system.”

These organizations operate on different electronic health record platforms, Intermountain on Cerner and SCL on Epic. With no clinical or geographic overlap, there are no short-term plans to move to a single EHR, Harrison said.

Research shows that it is often difficult to gather cost savings from remote organizations with minimal geographic overlap. For example, executives claim that bundling procurement in larger organizations will help them save on supplier contracts.

But hospital mergers only saved the acquired hospital $176,000 in supply chain costs, an average of 1.5% annually, according to one study. 2018 working papers The study analyzed 81 transactions from 2009 to 2014. Researchers at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania found that these savings occurred mostly in mergers involving nearby hospitals.

Both systems are financially stable.Valley report Operating income in 2021 was $8.7 billion on $558 million in operating income, up from $378 million in 2020 operating income of $7.8 billion.health system in Coronavirus disease Alms.

SCL report Operating income for the nine months ended September 30 was $2.33 billion, the latest data available, with operating income of $8.4 million. This was lower than operating income of $2.11 billion and operating income of $2.11 billion a year earlier. SCL confirms $46 million Coronavirus disease Relief grants, accelerated depreciation and impairment charges for the most recent reporting period were $115.4 million.

Both systems benefited from investment gains, with Intermountain reporting $1.39 billion in related revenue in 2021 and SCL reporting $185.6 million in the first nine months of its 2021 fiscal year.