PeaceHealth Medical Group intends to acquire four clinics in Vancouver from Providence Medical Group, the companies announced Thursday.
The clinics provide primary care, walk-in services and outpatient rehabilitation.
The clinics are:
- Providence Camas Medical Office Building at 3101 SE 192nd Ave.
- Providence Medical Group Esther Short Clinic at 700 Washington St., Ste. 105
- Providence Mill Plain Medical Office Building at 315 SE Stone Mill Dr.
- Providence Vancouver Rehabilitation at 222 Park Plaza Dr., Park Tower 3, Ste. 120
The medical groups are part of larger Providence and PeaceHealth hospital systems, both of which are Catholic. The purchase price was not disclosed.
The clinics employ about 100 people including physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, medical assistants and administrative employees, according to a press release.
Employees will be offered similar positions once PeaceHealth takes over with the exception of Providence Mill Plain Occupational Medicine, where Providence intends to help employees find positions within the system, according to the release.
Providence, a multi-state hospital system headquartered in Renton, Wash., has a limited presence in Clark County, offering few specialty care services and no acute care facility. PeaceHealth is headquartered in Vancouver and operates PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, the city’s largest hospital in addition to specialty services and other facilities scattered throughout Alaska, Washington and Oregon.
PeaceHealth already accepts most health insurance plans and its representatives will be in touch with patients as the acquisition moves forwards, health system spokesperson Debra Carnes told The Lund Report. Providence Health Plan has a longstanding relationship with PeaceHealth and is working "to ensure that most members will have in-network access to services at these locations in 2025 and beyond," according to company spokesperson Erin McClellan.
Competitive pressures may have played a role in Providence’s desire to sell. Oregon Health & Science University, a competitor of Providence Health, is trying to absorb Legacy Health, which operates Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver. While Providence has no hospital in Vancouver, PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center is twice the size of Salmon Creek, perhaps putting it in a better position to compete with the hoped-for OHSU-Legacy system.
PeaceHealth beat out Providence to buy the Vancouver hospital in 2010.
“Given PeaceHealth’s extensive specialty and acute care footprint in Clark County, we believe this acquisition will greatly benefit the community and provide enhanced continuity of care for current clinic patients,” Dr. Ben LeBlanc, Providence Medical Group CEO, said in a statement.
Regulators still need to approve the Vancouver clinic deal. PeaceHealth expects to finalize the agreement sometime in December.
