Maumee, Ohio-based St. Luke's Hospital has hired a healthcare consultant to examine the hospital's future amid growing financial challenges and a changing healthcare landscape, according to The Toledo Blade.
The firm will evaluate the hospital's strategic and financial position to determine next steps for the hospital.
"In light of the striking changes in healthcare — both locally and nationally — St. Luke's continues to assess and implement strategic and operational changes necessary to best secure the future of the hospital's ability to meet the needs of our community by providing high quality, comprehensive services," Dan Wakeman, St. Luke's president and CEO, told The Blade.
The decision to hire a consulting firm comes about three years after the Federal Trade Commission dissolved the hospital's merger with Toledo, Ohio-based ProMedica.
In August 2010 PoMedica and St. Luke's Hospital merged, making ProMedica the dominant hospital operator in the area with more than 50 percent of the market. the FTC challenged the transaction five months later.
After a five-year court battle, ProMedica filed its application with the FTC to sell the hospital. The two organizations officially became separate entities July 1, 2016.
During the hospital's transition back to an independent facility, Mr. Wakeman said one of the biggest challenges it faced was footing the cost for services ProMedica would have been responsible for under their merger.
More articles on healthcare finance:
Nation's biggest healthcare price markups are in Texas, researchers find
Quorum Health needs to generate cash from RCM deal to avoid rating downgrade, Moody's says
Hospitals slam CMS proposal to disclose negotiated rates