University of Michigan Health is acquiring Lansing-based Sparrow Health System, the largest hospital system in Mid-Michigan with 500 primary care providers and specialists in Charlotte, Ionia, St. John’s, Carson City and Lansing.
The deal was approved by the University of Michigan Board of Regents on Thursday. Sparrow Health System’s board of directors signed off on the agreement in late November.
Pending regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.
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UM Health is spending $800 million
“This agreement strengthens UM Health’s ability to provide quality health care in communities beyond Southeast Michigan, providing a statewide referral center for the most critically ill,” Paul Brown, chairman of the Board of Regents, said in a statement. expands our mission as a site.”
As part of the arrangement, Ann Arbor-based UM Health will spend $800 million in Sparrow’s hospital campuses, facility projects, operations and other “strategic investments” over the next eight years.
They include a renovation of the neonatal intensive care unit at EW Sparrow Hospital in Lansing and upgrades to services in cardiology, oncology, orthopedics and neuroscience, Joseph Ruth, executive vice president and COO of Sparrow Health System, said in a statement.
“This investment in Sparrow services will provide job growth and career development opportunities that would otherwise not be available to our caregivers,” said Ruth.
Expanding UM Health’s Footprint
The agreement includes Sparrow’s Physician Health Plan, an insurance plan that provides coverage to more than 70,000 members and 300 employers throughout the state, as well as a Medicare Advantage plan.
It was unclear Thursday whether Sparrow would keep its name or be renamed as part of the deal.
“In the coming year, we look forward to introducing strategic updates to the Sparrow brand to more appropriately reflect the relationship between our organizations,” said UM Health spokeswoman Mary Mason.
With the addition of Sparrow, UM Health will become a $7 billion organization with more than 200 care sites across the state, including its flagship University Hospital, CS Mott Children’s Hospital, Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital, Frankel Cardiovascular Center, Kellogg Eye Center , UM included. Health West and Rogal Cancer Center.
“For University of Michigan Health, this is an important step toward our long-term vision of a statewide system of highly coordinated care; CEO of Michigan Medicine, Dean of the UM Medical School and Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs at the University of Michigan, Dr. Marshall S. Runge said, a vision that Sparrow also embraces and is excited to move toward.
“Upon closing, UM Health will create a clinical care network that builds on the strengths of the world-class UM Academic Medical Center and a very successful community-based health system. Together, the two organizations will focus on increasing health care innovation in Mid-Michigan and beyond.
It’s the latest in a series of recent acquisitions and mergers among Michigan hospitals over the past year.
In January, the former Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health Systems combined in a megamerger to form the new Corwell Health, the state’s largest health system with 22 hospitals and more than 60,000 employees.
And the former North Ottawa Community Health System, based in Grand Haven, was acquired by Trinity Health in October. It became the ninth Michigan hospital for Trinity, located in Livonia.
Contact Kristen Shamus: [email protected] Follow her on Twitter @kristenshamus. Subscribe to Free Press.
