Mercy Health Partners Mulls Sale of Pa. Facilities

SCRANTON, Pa. — Mercy Health Partners is in discussions with several healthcare organizations interested in purchasing its Northeastern Pennsylvania facilities, according to reports.

MHP president and CEO Kevin Cook says in reports that it is a challenging time for Mercy, its staff and community, and that the put the property up for sale is the result of a combination of factors. Cook pointed to the past two decades that area hospitals have endured lower than average reimbursements for care, and a static population base, but that he remained encouraged by the potential of health care reform to improve coverage and access to care in the country.

One of the factors in the decision to sell is the trend of hospitals moving toward outpatient care, says Jerry Askew, vice president of external affairs at Mercy. Askew added that the passage of the healthcare reform bill has made it clear that reimbursements for inpatient services is going down and reimbursements for outpatient services is going up and that long hospital stays are becoming a thing of the past.