New Jersey's two primary healthcare regulatory bodies — the attorney general's office and health department — have approved Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Services' application to acquire St. Mary's Hospital in Passaic, N.J.
The groups said Prime's certificate of need application was complete, and now the transaction is set for public hearings before final approval is issued.
The nonprofit St. Mary's signed a letter of intent to sell to private, for-profit Prime in November 2012 and finalized a binding asset purchase agreement this past January. Both sides are still ironing out the purchase price, which was initially estimated around $25 million. Prime will also invest roughly $30 million in capital improvements at St. Mary's over five years. No timeline was given for when the organizations expected to close on the transaction.
Prime, which operates 23 acute-care hospitals across the country, has aggressively entered the New Jersey hospital market. In addition to St. Mary's, Prime is in the process of acquiring Denville-based Saint Clare's Health System and Newark-based Saint Michael's Medical Center.
This story has been updated to indicate only the application of the deal has been approved, not the entire transaction.
More Articles on Hospital Transactions:
MaineHealth to Add Franklin Community Health Network
Cannon Memorial Hospital in South Carolina to Join AnMed Health
UMass Memorial Health Care to Sell Wing Memorial Hospital to Baystate