Akron, Ohio-based Summa Health will sell its 40 percent share of Western Reserve Hospital in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, to an independent, third-party investor, ending a three-year battle with Western Reserve Hospital Partners, the Akron-based physician group that owns a 60 percent share of the hospital, according to The Plain Dealer.
Summa Health and Western Reserve Hospital Partners entered a partnership to operate the hospital in 2009. However, the organizations have been in a feud since late 2014, when the physician group voted to strip Summa Health of its ownership stake in the hospital. The parties have since been involved in multiple legal battles.
On Tuesday, Summa Health, Western Reserve Hospital and Western Reserve Hospital Partners said in a joint press release they have reached an agreement. Under the deal, Summa Health will sell its 40 percent stake in the hospital to Gbswrh, a third-party investor, and will sell the building housing the hospital to Western Reserve Hospital.
The agreement also resolves all outstanding litigation between the parties, according to the report.
"The consummation of this agreement is important because it not only resolves our differences, but ensures the best interests of the Cuyahoga Falls community will be served," said Cliff Deveny, MD, interim president and CEO of Summa Health. "While this agreement brings clarity to several contractual and legal issues, we look forward to continuing to collaborate with WRH and WRHP in the care of the many patients we collectively serve."
More articles on healthcare industry transactions:
Tenet, Baylor Scott & White to sell 218-bed Texas hospital
2 shuttered Virginia hospitals secure buyers
Saint Luke's Health System to acquire 6 clinics from Mosaic: 5 things to know