Hospital Acquisition to Close for Triad

Triad Health Partners Inc.’s buyout of Quorum Health Group Inc., which includes two Northwest Arkansas Hospitals, is expected to close today.

The deal was previously estimated to be worth $2.4 billion, but additional details will be made available this afternoon.

Bill Bradley is CEO of Northwest Health System Inc. of Springdale, which owns the local hospitals — Northwest Health Center in Springdale and Bates Memorial Center in Bentonville. During a Friday morning teleconference, Bradley told a group of reporters the transition has gone smoothly since the acquisition was announced Oct. 19.

Bradley said he still sees the change as a “nonevent,” and described the mood of local employees as “calm.”

“We’ve gone to great lengths to keep them informed,” Bradley said. “They know Triad’s benefit packages will be similar to if not better than what we had in the past.”

Northwest Health System had $133 million in 2000 revenue. Northwest Health and Bates Medical — the system’s two largest components with a combined 1,600 employees and 290 beds — will continue operating under the same names.

But Bradley said Friday morning plans for the construction of a new Bates hospital in Bentonville could be expanded. He said Triad was interested in building the new facility “about 30 percent larger than what Quorum had in mind.” No details on the exact size of the planned new hospital have been finalized.

The Bentonville hospital eventually will add more tertiary services that are currently not available in Benton County, he said.

About 25 local physicians’ clinics are also part of the transaction. PremiereCare, Northwest Health’s local physicians network, which boasts 305 doctors and more than 50,000 customers, have also been unaffected, Bradley said.

Quorum is based in Nashville, Tenn. Publicly traded Triad is based in Dallas.

Triad, now the third-largest health care system in America, owns 53 hospitals with a capacity of 9,479 beds.

Triad’s holdings include neighboring hospitals in Hope, El Dorado, Tulsa and Kansas City, Mo. A total of 12 Quorum managed-care facilities in Arkansas are affected, including the hospitals in Siloam Springs, Gravette and Berryville.