Tower Health, a six-hospital system across southeastern Pennsylvania, is growing its network rather aggressively lately. On October 2, it announced the acquisition of Premier Urgent Care, which runs 19 urgent care centers in Pennsylvania and Delaware. A week earlier, it reported a new joint venture with United Surgical Partners International (USPI), part of Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC).
Tower Health is the new name for the former Reading Health System, based in West Reading, Pennsylvania. Until May 2017, the system consisted of Reading Hospital, which housed a cancer institute, a cardiac center, a rehabilitation hospital and a physician network of more than 1,000 physicians.
On May 30 of that year, Reading announced its acquisition of five area hospitals owned by Community Health Systems (NYSE: CYH) for an undisclosed price. The hospitals involved in the sale were Brandywine Hospital (169 beds); Chestnut Hill Hospital (148 beds); Jennersville Hospital (63 beds); Phoenixville Hospital (151 beds); and Pottstown Memorial Medical Center (232 beds). Community Health was in the process of divesting several hospitals in order to pay down debt.
Tower Health’s deal to buy Premier Urgent Care will make it the largest provider of urgent care services, based on weekly visits, in the Philadelphia region. Premier’s 19 sites are located primarily in Tower Health’s southeast service area, including Chester, Montgomery and Bucks County, with one location in Berks County and one in Delaware. It has more than 200 medical professionals and employees. Financial terms were not disclosed.
A week earlier, the health system and USPI announced the formation of their joint venture designed to expand Tower Health’s network of ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) through acquisition and development. The deal is directly related to the shift to move some surgical procedures out of hospitals and into more cost-effective settings.
USPI is an ambulatory healthcare provider serving approximately 2.5 million patients a year in collaboration with more than 9,000 physicians and mroe than 50 health system partners nationwide.
