Schenectady, N.Y.-based Ellis Medicine and Albany, N.Y.-based St. Peter’s Health Partners have ended talks to combine and will conclude agreements that have supported their collaboration since 2020.
In a joint news release shared with Becker’s, the organizations said they mutually agreed to discontinue exploration of a potential integration and conclude their Management Services Agreement and Professional Services Agreement effective Aug. 16.
The announcement comes nearly six years after the organizations signed a letter of intent to explore a combination. The merger effort was later paused in 2021 as Ellis Medicine worked through financial challenges related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ellis Medicine’s board determined it had a fiduciary responsibility to reassess the healthcare market given changes since 2020 and initiated a request for proposal process to evaluate potential partnership opportunities. St. Peter’s Health Partners chose not to participate.
“Much has changed in healthcare over the past six years,” the organizations said in the release. “Broader industry changes have led healthcare organizations across the country to evaluate different approaches to long-term sustainability and growth. For SPHP, that has meant shifting strategic priorities to focus on expanding ambulatory and outpatient services.”
The organizations said their collaboration helped strengthen key service lines, advance quality performance, improve physician and nurse recruitment, stabilize operations and strengthen Ellis Medicine’s financial performance.
“This decision reflects evolving strategic priorities on both sides and is not a reflection of the performance or success of the partnership, which has delivered measurable and meaningful results,” the organizations said.
Ellis Medicine is a 438-bed community and teaching health system with more than 3,300 employees, according to its website. The system includes four campuses and five additional service locations.
St. Peter’s Health Partners, a Catholic health system and a member of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, is one of the largest nonprofit health systems in New York’s Capital Region.
Leaders from both organizations said they will continue to coordinate to ensure continuity of care during the transition. The organizations said they have no plans to eliminate positions at this time and will evaluate roles over the next 60 days, prioritizing opportunities to retain and support employees.
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