Kindred Hospital Chattanooga, the 49-bed long-term acute care hospital that began as Downtown General Hospital, got a new owner Thursday when the Brentwood, Tennessee-based LifePoint Health completed its acquisition of Kindred Healthcare.
LifePoint Health, which operates 18 community hospitals including facilities in Etowah, Sewanee, Athens and Winchester, Tennessee, bought Louisville-based Kindred Healthcare to grow the hospital chain to more than 65 hospital campuses, more than 30 rehabilitation and behavioral health hospitals and more than 170 additional health care sites in 29 states. As part of the merger, LifePoint officially launched ScionHealth as the corporate parent for the Kindred hospitals.
"Today, we begin a new chapter in the future of LifePoint Health," said David Dill, chairman and chief executive officer of LifePoint. "By adding Kindred Healthcare's rehabilitation and behavioral health expertise and businesses to LifePoint, we are well-positioned to advance health care delivery in communities across the country by focusing on quality, innovation and value in markets where we can build and support diverse services and sites of care."
The expanded LifePoint system has approximately 50,000 employees across community hospital campuses, including 120 workers at the 49-bed Kindred Hospital in downtown Chattanooga. More than 15 new rehabilitation and behavioral health hospitals are also under construction.
LifePoint and ScionHealth will function independently from each other, and Kindred Hospital will keep its name and current staff. LifePoint is still led by chair and CEO David Dill, while ScionHealth is led by former LifePoint executive Rob Jay.
"Like LifePoint, ScionHealth is committed to collaboration, to investing in innovative services that will benefit the people it serves, to making health care more accessible, and to supporting healthier communities," Dill said.