Today, we learned that Methodist plans to purchase the St. Francis hospitals, currently owned by Tenet, in Memphis and Bartlett. Tenet has owned St. Francis Hospital in Memphis for 25 years and opened St. Francis Bartlett in 2004. We appreciate the collaboration and partnership we have enjoyed in meeting the health care needs of our community, and we hate to see them go.
We do believe that the Federal Trade Commission will have an interest in reviewing the proposed sale to Methodist. We will provide information to the FTC, if asked, since we believe the best option is to maintain the competitive balance that we have in Memphis today.
I want to assure you that this news does not surprise us and will not affect our services or how we treat our patients. We will continue to operate Memphis’ busiest hospital. The Baptist Medical Group remains the Memphis-area’s largest physician practice. No other local health care organization offers MyChart, the country’s leading electronic health record. And no one else has the strong, dedicated, empathetic, highly skilled team that we do.
I am grateful for your commitment and service to our patients. Our communities need us to continue working together to improve health and access to much-needed services in some of our country’s most under-served areas. I’m excited about what the future holds for us.
If you have any questions about this, please send them to me by email, tweet me @jason_m_little or find me on LinkedIn.
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