UCHealth Acquires 17 Free-Standing ERs, 4 In Colo. Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, CO -- UCHealth signed a deal to snap up 17 free-standing emergency room facilities in Colorado, along with two boutique hospitals as part of a deal after a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. These include Grandview Hospital in Colorado Springs and four of the freestanding ERs in El Paso County, according to a business report in the Gazette.

Texas-based Adeptus Health, which partnered with UCHealth in the past, was acquired in a restructuring by New York-based Deerfield Management Co., which has now sold the facilities outright to UCHealth, the Gazette said.

Colorado's stand-alone ERs have caused consumer backlash over billing practices, which can run more than $1,000 over the same procedure at an urgent care center, the Gazette reported. Dan Weaver, spokesman for UCHealth told the Gazette it was up to patients to determine if their medical needs could be adequately addressed at an urgent care site.

"It's important for patients to have comprehensive care options close to home," Weaver said. "Because if they have an urgent care need, a patient will do best to have an urgent care location close to them."If they have an emergency need, it would be beneficial to them if they had an emergency location close to home."

In Colorado Springs, UCHealth will run the "boutique" Grandview Hospital, the Gazette reported. The deal also includes the three UCHealth Emergency Room locations in northern Colorado Springs, and a facility in Fountain. The merger will also include a boutique hospital in Broomfield.

All of the Adeptus employees - numbering "a few hundred" - are expected to be hired by UCHealth, Weaver said.

Read the Colorado Springs Gazette coverage Here

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