Mary O'Dowd, state health commissioner of New Jersey, has approved the sale of Denville, N.J.-based St. Clare's Health System to Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare Services, according to the Daily Record.
In two letters to St. Clare's CEO Leslie Hirsch, Ms. O'Dowd wrote that the new system, called Prime St. Clare's Health System, has committed to keeping "substantially all" current employees, according to the report. Prime has also agreed to keep all inpatient clinical services and community health programs at two of the system's hospitals in Denville and Dover.
St. Clare's Heath System transferred ownership of St. Clare's Hospital-Denville, St. Clare's Hospital-Boonton, St. Clare's Imaging Center at Parsippany, St. Clare's at Sussex Ambulatory Care Facility, the Visiting Nurse Association of St. Clare's and two MRI facilities to Prime for $74.7 million. The acquisition of St. Clare's Hospital-Dover was separately priced at $33.2 million, according to the report.
The sale is not yet final. The New Jersey Office of the Attorney General must approve St. Clare's Community Health Assets Protection Act request, a process that ensures the sale is in the public's interest, and then a Superior Court judge must give the deal final approval.