The University of California, Irvine (UCI) has agreed to pay $975 million in cash for Tenet Healthcare Corp.’s four-hospital Pacific Coast Network, which will become part of UCI Health, UC Irvine’s clinical business.
If the deal meets regulatory approvals, clearances and closing conditions, the proposed acquisition would bring four medical centers in Lakewood, Los Alamitos, Fountain Valley and Placentia and associated outpatient locations to the UCI Health system. Currently, UCI Health provides care at the 459-bed UCI Medical Center in Orange and a growing network of multi-specialty care facilities.
Headquartered in Dallas, publicly traded Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC) has a care delivery network that includes United Surgical Partners International, the nation’s largest ambulatory platform, which operates or has ownership interests in more than 480 ambulatory surgery centers and surgical hospitals. It also operates 58 acute care and specialty hospitals, approximately 110 other outpatient facilities, a network of employed physicians, and a global business center in Manila, Philippines. Its subsidiary Conifer Health Solutions offers revenue cycle management and value-based care services.
Last November, Tenet entered into an agreement to sell three hospitals and related operations in South Carolina for approximately $2.4 billion in cash to Novant Health.
“At UCI Health, we are excited to add these new sites of care to the UCI Health network and expand the benefits of our compassionate, high-level care, clinical innovation and scientific discovery,” said Chad Lefteris, president and CEO of UCI. Health, in a statement: “As Orange County’s only academic health system, UCI Health is unique in its ability to offer the highest level of advanced care driven by research and innovation from a world-class public research institution. “.
UCI Health operates the only Level I trauma center, a locally based National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal-neonatal service and is the largest regional burn center and leading provider of tertiary care and complex quaternary.
The acquisition means more patients will have access to advanced therapies in the region’s largest and most diverse clinical trial portfolio, ranging from cancer to neurosciences, digestive diseases, orthopedics and internal medicine specialties, according to UCI Health.
