Healthcare giant CommonSpirit Health finalized a deal to acquire Seattle-based Virginia Mason this week.
Virginia Mason will combine with Tacoma, Washington-based CHI Franciscan to form an integrated health system to be known as Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Officials said the combined health system will serve as a prototype of care innovation nationally as part of Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health.
In July, the health systems first revealed the acquisition talks.
The health system will be led initially through a "dyad CEO model" officials said.
RELATED: Virginia Mason in acquisition talks with CommonSpirit's CHI Franciscan
“Virginia Mason Franciscan Health has an incredibly strong foundation to build upon as our two storied organizations come together with an exciting vision, particularly as we expand services for the most vulnerable in our communities,” said Ketul Patel, CEO of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and president of the Pacific Northwest Division of CommonSpirit Health, in a statement. “We are committed to building a consumer-focused health care system while expanding our presence as a national leader in the transformation of health care delivery.”
CHI Franciscan is a $2.5 billion health system with more than 1,250 hospital beds. Virginia Mason has just over 550 beds between two hospitals. The combined health system includes 11 hospitals and nearly 300 sites of care, including primary and specialty care clinics, same-day surgery centers, Benaroya Research Institute, Bailey-Boushay House and Virginia Mason Institute. The organization employs more than 18,000 team members and staff, including nearly 5,000 employed physicians and affiliated providers.
CHI Franciscan and Virginia Mason have previously partnered on obstetric and women’s health services—opening a birth center and women’s health clinic in Seattle last year—as well as a radiation oncology partnership at St. Anne Hospital in Highline and St. Francis Hospital in Federal Way.
“For years we have worked with CHI Franciscan, but now, together, our potential is limitless," said Gary Kaplan, M.D., who is also a CEO of Virginia Mason Franciscan Health and has served as CEO of Virginia Mason since 2000. "We will be able to apply learnings across our entire system that not only improve the patient experience, but also change health care delivery for the better.”
Officials said patients will continue to use their same site of care and continue to use their current insurance plans.