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Diving brief:
- Intermountain Health leaves Kansas and unloads the last three clinics it operates in the statecollectively called Caritas Clinics, the system said April 19.
- The Salt Lake City-based nonprofit health system will transfer ownership of Marian Dental Clinic and St. Vincent Clinic, a primary care facility, to Atchison Community Health Clinic by June 30, according to a news release. The terms of the contract are not disclosed.
- Intermountain will close its Kansas City-based factory Duchesne Clinic on June 1st. Some Duchesne employees could transfer to Atchison, while others will receive financial support and job search assistance.
Dive overview:
Intermountain, which will operate 33 hospitals in six states after the deal, called its decision to leave Kansas “strategic.”
The health system acquired Cliniques Caritas in its 2022 merger with SCL Health, based in Broomfield, Colorado. The clinics are “safety net” devices, who provide services to low-income patients.
Even if some health systems, notably Community health systems And Health Principlerecently sold assets to pay down debt, Intermountain ended 2023 with a low long-term debt-to-capitalization ratio.
The health operator had 348 days of liquidity at the end of 2023 compared to 343 days in 2022 — put into context, KFF said that any health system carrying more than 150 days of liquidity in 2022 were considered “strong” reserves or better.
June credit reports from S&P Global and Moody's Ratings rated Intermountain's credit as high quality.
However, Intermountain needed to reduce short-term capital spending and exercise strict financial discipline while operating margins recovered from the pandemic, according to Moody's.
Intermountain, for example, sold the its emergency care, surgical services and ambulatory imaging activities Saltzer Medical Group based in Idaho earlier this month and sought to re-lease other Saltzer clinics.
Before leaving the state, the health system said it would invest money in Kansas, donating $4.2 million to fund future facility improvements, according to the state's announcement. agreement.