Partnership Between Catholic and Adventist Hospital Network Ends on Valentine’s Day
15 February 2023 |
CenturaHealth, one of the largest hospital networks in Colorado, released a statement on Tuesday announcing the end of its 27-year partnership between Catholic-affiliated network CommonSpirit Health and Seventh-day Adventist-affiliated network AdventHealth.
Centura said that the partnership between the two had reached its “natural maturity,” according to CPR News. “CommonSpirit Health and AdventHealth have collaboratively agreed that they can best serve their communities and health care ministries without a partnership,” the news release announced.
AdventHealth will operate and manage five Adventist hospitals and affiliated clinics in Colorado. The AdventHealth hospitals include Avista Adventist Hospital in Louisville, Castle Rock Adventist Hospital, Littleton Adventist Hospital, Parker Adventist Hospital, and Porter Adventist Hospital in Denver. CommonSpirit Health will run 15 hospitals and affiliated clinics in Colorado and Kansas.
According to The Colorado Sun:
“Baumgarten, the health care consultant, said the news reminded him of a similar breakup that happened in Illinois in 2021, when AdventHealth and the Catholic-affiliated Ascension broke up a partnership they had formed named Amita. In that divorce, Baumgarten said it was likely that the two sides disagreed about how to grow the joint company.
“Centura has been around longer, though, Baumgarten said, and it was not immediately clear to him what might be driving the split. He mentioned possible tensions over Catholic health directives, especially in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Catholic hospitals in the Centura system do not perform abortions and will perform sterilization procedures only rarely — something that Centura had recently re-emphasized at Mercy Hospital in Durango. ‘It’s also not unusual to have disputes about money,’ he added.”
At the moment, there is no timeline for when the dissolution will occur.
