Intermountain-owned physician group to close if no buyer is found by March 29

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来源: FierceHealthcare

Saltzer Health has more than 450 employees across 11 Idaho locations. It attributes its situation to "significant financial pressures," but said it is "optimistic" that at least some services could be sold to a new owner.

Intermountain Health plans to shut down Saltzer Health, a multispecialty group the system acquired less than four years ago, if it’s unable to find a buyer by March 29, according to an announcement.

Based in southwest Idaho, Saltzer Health is a 63-year-old group that has more than 450 employees and clinicians spread across 11 locations. It's one of the state's oldest and largest primary care groups.

A closure could end services at the Treasure Valley region’s only 24-7 urgent care, limit the area’s pregnancy care options and, according to a clinical leader cited by the Idaho Statesman, leave the group’s roughly 100,000 annual patients in need of new providers.

Saltzer Health’s announcement attributes the wind down to “ongoing financial and economic challenges” it and other healthcare organizations are facing.

“Like many health systems across the country, Saltzer has faced significant financial pressures as the rising cost of providing care, driven by inflation, has increased since the pandemic,” the group wrote in its announcement. “Saltzer leaders say vital contracts and other market relationships did not progress as had been hoped for, making it financially challenging.”

However, Saltzer said it is “in active negotiations” with healthcare companies over a sale of certain operations. It is “optimistic that a sale can be achieved,” which would allow the community to continue receiving those services and employees at the transacted operations a potential chance to continue employment with the buyer.

Still, Saltzer warned its patients that they will likely need to transition their care and should begin looking for new providers. In an FAQ, the group said it will be reaching out through digital channels, phone systems, signage and written letters to inform patients of the potential closure and their options.

Saltzer also said that it will be maintaining patient medical records as required and is selecting a third-party vendor to support future record requests. It is also alerting other healthcare organizations and referring providers of the changes.

Intermountain Health—which runs 33 hospitals and 385 clinics across seven states, according to its website—had acquired the group practice in 2020. Idaho Statesman noted that the large nonprofit scrubbed nearly all logos and other mentions of its branding from Saltzer Health’s website upon the release of the news.

Though financial headwinds have brought tough times for providers, several industry players have been open to purchasing primary care, urgent care clinics and other ambulatory locations to expand their networks.

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