Presbyterian Healthcare Services and UnityPoint Health have moved a step closer to completing a proposed merger.
The nonprofit health systems signed a definitive agreement on March 30, the companies disclosed in a filing to the Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board on Thursday. Presbyterian Healthcare Services of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Des Moines, Iowa-based UnityPoint Health signed a letter of intent March 2 to form an $11 billion system with 48 hospitals in Illinois, Iowa, New Mexico and Wisconsin. The deal would create new corporate parent company, akin to Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health merging to form Charlotte, North Carolina-based Advocate Health.
"The focus of our evaluation remains on how we could work together to sustainably serve our communities for generations to come. We continue to thoughtfully evaluate this partnership and do not have a definitive close date at this time," Presbyterian Healthcare Services President and CEO Dale Maxwell said in a statement.
Presbyterian Healthcare Services and UnityPoint Health are the latest health systems to seek cross-state health systems and bet on reduced costs for administrative expenses in areas such as technology, revenue cycle management and purchasing. Such savings have proven hard to achieve after other mergers and acquisitions.
"While the final agreement and close date is still pending as we move into due diligence work, we look forward to the opportunities ahead, so we can best serve our respective patients, families and communities,” UnityPoint Health President and CEO Clay Holderman said in a statement.
