Boston-based Steward Health Care System would become the largest for-profit hospital operator in the U.S. if it wins regulatory approval for a $2 billion merger with Franklin, Tennessee-based IASIS Healthcare.

If completed, the number of hospitals under Steward’s control would double in size to 36 across 10 states, projected to bring in a total $8 billion of revenue for 2018. This continues a long-term trend of expansion for the company dating back to its first deal in 2010, when it acquired financially distressed Catholic hospitals in Boston.  

It would also give the company a stronger foothold in the insurance market, as it includes the IASIS managed care plan, Health Choice, covering about 680,000 members.

“Our physician-driven accountable care model focused on keeping patients healthy is transforming the health care industry as this transaction demonstrates,” Steward Chairman and CEO Ralph de la Torre, MD, said in a statement. “Our model shows how the industry can successfully shift toward a more cost-effective local, coordinated approach that puts patients first.”

The 18 IASIS hospitals which would become part of Steward are:

·         Mountain Vista Medical Center (Mesa, AZ)

·         St. Luke’s Behavioral Health Center (Phoenix, AZ)

·         St. Luke’s Medical Center (Phoenix, AZ)

·         Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital (Tempe, AZ)

·         Wadley Regional Medical Center at Hope (Hope, AR)

·         Pikes Peak Regional Hospital (Woodland Park, CO)

·         Glenwood Regional Medical Center (West Monroe, LA)

·         The Medical Center of Southeast Texas (Port Arthur, TX)

·         The Medical Center of Southeast Texas – Victory Campus (Beaumont, TX)

·         Odessa Regional Medical Center (Odessa, TX)

·         Southwest General Hospital (San Antonio, TX)

·         St. Joseph Medical Center (Houston, TX)

·         Wadley Regional Medical Center (Texarkana, TX)

·         Davis Hospital and Medical Center (Layton, UT)

·         Jordan Valley Medical Center (West Jordan, UT)

·         Jordan Valley Medical Center West Valley Campus (West Valley City, UT)

·         Mountain Point Medical Center (Lehi, UT)

·         Salt Lake Regional Medical Center (Salt Lake City, UT)

The IASIS hospitals would be sold to real estate company MPT and then leased back to Steward, in a similar deal to what Steward arranged for its Massachusetts hospitals. The newly acquired hospitals would use the Steward brand name.

Steward predicted the deal would close in the third quarter of 2017.