Duke University Health System has officially added another piece to its ever-growing health-care puzzle.
Officials announced Tuesday that they have completed the purchase of Raleigh Community Hospital from Columbia/HCA's Atlantic Group.
The May 19 purchase contract and the resulting agreement will expand the Health System into Wake County-part of the Piedmont area that the Health System is interested in serving, said Dr. Ralph Snyderman, chancellor for health affairs.
"Wake, one of the fastest growing counties in the nation, is our neighbor," Snyderman said in a press release. "The strengths of Raleigh Community Hospital, its physicians and staff in the delivery of high quality, compassionate care will be complemented by Duke's strengths in leading-edge, specialized medicine."
Mike Israel, chief executive officer of Duke Hospital, said the newly acquired facility currently has approximately nine percent of the market share in Wake County. He added there are no plans to consolidate Raleigh Community and Durham Regional Hospital-which the Health System has leased from Durham county since July 1.
Israel said Raleigh Community will remain a community hospital, emphasizing that it is currently quite successful and well run. "The employees should see very little change other than the fact that they will now be employees of the Duke Health System," he said.
The Health System plans on performing a needs analysis survey of the newly acquired hospital as well as speaking with doctors regarding what they would like to see in the facility, Israel said.
"We would hope over a period of time to have a positive impact on the medical services available to the residents of Wake County," Israel said, adding that the health system always strives toward good quality care and service.
"This is all about making access to health-care systems easier," he said.
By giving the health system an increased geographic coverage, the acquisition will make it more attractive to managed care companies, he added.
Jim Raynor, chief executive officer of Raleigh Community Hospital said in a press release, "We are honored to be joining such an outstanding health system as Duke. Raleigh Community Hospital and its patients will benefit from the medical advances and technologies of our integrated health system."
While financial details of the purchase were not released, the acquisition of Raleigh Community was made possible due to a larger move by Columbia, a for-profit health care system, which plans to sell 22 hospitals across the Southeast to a consortium of seven not-for-profit health care systems, including Duke's Health System. The cost of the 22 facilities exceeds $1.2 billion.
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