The merger of two major health-care companies now owning five Utah hospitals, including the Davis Hospital and Medical Center, should be trouble-free and seamless, according to administrators.
In August, Paracelsus Health-care Corp. of Pasadena, Calif., merged with Champion Health-care Corp., of Houston, and acquired five Utah hospitals, adding a third health-care company to the Utah market.Not much is expected to change for the patients and physicians.
"Seamless" and "invisible" were the words chief executive officer Bob Cash used when he described the transition from the previous hospital owners, Columbia/HCA Health-care Corp., to Paracelsus.
"The only difference patients will see," Cash said, "is Paracelsus will be on the bill instead of Columbia."
With the merger, Davis Hospital can network with the four other hospitals: PHC Regional Hospital and Medical Center (formerly FHP) in Salt Lake City; Pioneer Valley Hospital in West Valley City; Salt Lake Regional Medical Center (formerly Holy Cross) in Salt Lake City, and Jordan Valley Hospital in West Jordan.
"Our focus will work for the network," Cash said. He added that physicians will probably continue to refer patients to hospitals and specialists in Davis and Weber counties for convenience's sake.
Patients should not see a change in physicians or health insurance companies. However, Paracelsus administrator Dave Jones said employees will be added and dismissed as dictated by the market.
Likewise, health insurance companies will be accepted or denied depending on the contracts between Paracelsus and the insurance companies.
Insurance companies have the option of using the Paracelsus facilities or contracting better deals with the state's two other hospital companies, Columbia/HCA and Intermountain Health Care.
Davis Hospital accepted all the major insurance companies and has not lost any contracts, Cash said. All the insurance companies have transferred their agreements with Columbia to Paracelsus rather than renegotiate new contracts.
The question of whether that can continue would be the only reason patients would have to worry, said Dr. Bruce Bertenshaw, an internist at Tanner Clinic and a hospital board member.
Paracelsus "may not be able to continue to get allies with all the (insurance) companies," Burtenshaw said.
So far, he added, the transition to Paracelsus has gone smoothly.
Paracelsus acquired three Utah hospitals, including Davis Hospital, last November when the Federal Trade Commission forced Columbia/HCA to sell three hospitals because it had too much of the market share.
Paracelsus now owns 31 hospitals and four skilled nursing facilities in 11 states.