Albuquerque-based Lovelace Health System announced that it has closed on a deal to acquire Roswell (N.M.) Regional Hospital, a 26-bed for-profit facility. Terms were not disclosed.
Lovelace, part of the Nashville-based, for-profit Ardent Health Services chain, signed a
letter of intent to purchase Roswell Regional last month. In the transaction, Lovelace also acquired the Family Care Clinic, also located in Roswell
Lovelace announced its interest in Roswell Regional soon after
Community Health Systems, Franklin, Tenn., ended talks to buy the hospital.
A letter of intent between Community and Roswell Regional
was signed last September, but a subsidiary of Community already owns the only other acute-care hospital in town, 162-bed Eastern New Mexico Medical Center, and this prompted the Federal Trade Commission to announce it was planning an extensive review of the proposal—which led to Community walking away from the deal.
In addition to a network of hospitals, Lovelace holdings include retail pharmacies and a health plan. According to a company news release,
some 30,000 Lovelace Health Plan members live in the Roswell area.
According to an e-mail from Lovelace spokeswoman Laurie Volkin, there will not be any layoffs due to staff consolidation. In fact, Volkin said that the system is planning on expanding services, technology and physicians at the hospital. Rosewell staff is currently working under a temporary agreement, and she said they will officially become Lovelace employees on April 1.
