April 1999
* Catholic Institutions alone control 600 hospitals, 140,000 hospital beds, and $40 billion in revenue. Columbia/HCA, one of the nations largest for-profit and secular systems controls 300 hospitals, 60,000 beds and $14.5 billion in revenue.[1]
* In 1997, four of the ten largest health care systems (including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs) in the country were Catholic.[2]
* Catholic hospital net patient revenues grew 7.3 percent from 1996 to 1997 while for-profit systems grew only 5.5 percent.[3]
* In California, Catholic Healthcare West (CHW) operates 46 hospitals, compared to Tenet Healthcares 42.[4] CHW continues to consider its expansion options within the state.[5]
* Pending Vatican approval, three Catholic Hospitals in New York City are on the verge of completing a merger deal that would create the citys largest fully integrated Catholic health care system.[6]
* Two Catholic healthcare systems in the Midwest are gaining market share with recent merger deals. Provena Health, a seven hospital system based in Frankfurt, Illinois, has formed a joint operating company with another Illinois hospital and has another deal pending with another. Sisters of St. Francis Health Systems recently completed a hospital swap for a 248-bed facility in Crown Point, Indiana , making St. Francis the sole provider in the area.[7]
NHeLP wishes to thank the California Women's Law Center for their assistance in assembling this information.
1 Catholic Hospitals by the Number, Los Angeles Daily J., Feb. 6, 1999, at 8.
2 Deanna Bellandi & Bruce Japsen, While You Were Sleeping, Modern Healthcare, May 25, 1998, at 35, 36.
3 Deanna Bellandi & Bruce Japsen, While You Were Sleeping, Modern Healthcare, May 25, 1998, at 35, 46.
4 Ron Shinkman, Unihealth Hospitals to Merge with CHW, Modern Healthcare, Oct. 19, 1998, at 8.
5 Chris Rauber, CHW Eyes Calif. For-Profit Hospital, Modern Healthcare, Apr. 19, 1999, at 24.
6 Karen Pallarito, N.Y. Catholic Merger Gets Back on Track, Modern Healthcare, April 19, 1999, at 18.