Daughters of Charity in discussions to join Ascension

Ascension Health Alliance, St. Louis, and Daughters of Charity Health System, Los Altos, Calif., have signed a memorandum of understanding for Daughters of Charity to become part of Ascension Health, the alliance's hospital division.

Terms of the memorandum were undisclosed by the two Catholic organizations, and there is no specific schedule for reaching a definitive agreement, according to a news release. Completion of the process is expected to come by year-end, the release states.

Six-hospital Daughters of Charity shares roots with 76-hospital Ascension Health in that four of Ascension's five original Catholic sponsors when it formed in 1999 were affiliated with the Daughters of Charity, according to the release. But Daughters of Charity's sponsor -- the Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul, Province of the West -- was not among them.

"Daughters of Charity Health System shares Ascension Health's commitment to serve all with special attention to those who are poor and vulnerable,” said Anthony Tersigni, president and CEO of Ascension Health Alliance, in the release. “Both organizations are committed to providing quality, compassionate care to the whole person – body, mind and spirit.”

The alliance this week also announced it had formed a group purchasing organization.

And its private equity arm, Ascension Health Care Network, entered into exclusive negotiations to acquire St. Clare's Health System, which operates four New Jersey hospitals.