St. Luke’s Buys Kelsey-Seybold Management Services

St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System has finalized the purchase of the Kelsey-Seybold Management Company, officially joining St. Luke’s with Kelsey-Seybold, Houston’s largest community-based multispeciality physician group – an entity with 23 locations and more than 250 physicians.

"St. Luke’s and Kelsey-Seybold both come to this transaction from positions of strength," says Michael K. Jhin, president and CEO of St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System. "The reason for partnering at this stage in our organizations’ lives is to provide high-quality, cost-effective care to our Houston community and to benefit our organizations’ long-term strategic development. St. Luke’s is planning for the next five, 10 and 20 years."

Both St. Luke’s and Kelsey-Seybold are in an expansion mode. St. Luke’s has just opened the Texas Heart Institute at St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospital – The Denton A. Cooley Building, and construction is well under way on a new full-service hospital in the Woodlands that will open in April 2003. Kelsey-Seybold is hiring more physicians and debuting the new Willowbrook Clinic.

"Over the 50-plus years of our existence, Kelsey-Seybold has internally grown the expertise it takes to successfully provide health care services with the goal of increasing the quality of care while lowering the overall cost of care," says Valerie Bergeron, CEO of Kelsey-Seybold Management Company. "This makes Kelsey a natural fit with St. Luke’s two bottom lines of quality and financial responsibility."

In February, St. Luke’s announced it would purchase the remaining 50 percent interest in Kelsey-Seybold from its joint venture partner.

Kelsey-Seybold Medical Group, P.A., the physician group, is not part of today’s business transaction and will remain a separately organized professional association with a management services agreement with St. Luke’s.

"Together, St. Luke’s and Kelsey-Seybold are stronger than they are separately," said Dr. Spencer Berthelsen, chairman of the board, Kelsey-Seybold Medical Group. "The Greater Houston area community can count on the continued success of both. Our patients and their family members are likely to see offerings that contain aspects of both inpatient and outpatient care, as we collaborate more closely together."

Jhin says the collaboration is evidence of the strategic focus and alignment of both organizations. "It makes tremendous sense for Houston, which would want to preserve these two vital community health assets, as well as for St. Luke’s and for Kelsey to be able to collaborate on the delivery of cost-effective care."

Kelsey-Seybold physicians will continue to manage all aspects of patient care and access to services, as they always have.

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©2006 Texas Medical Center

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