PROVIDENCE – Yale New Haven Health System and South County Health have ended talks regarding a potential merger of Westerly Hospital and South County Hospital, the organizations announced in a joint statement Tuesday.
News of talks regarding a potential merger emerged in April.
In a joint statement, both organizations said, “Over the past several months, we have collectively reviewed a potential partnership between Westerly Hospital and South County Hospital, exploring opportunities to develop a single delivery network for patients in the region. Unfortunately we were not able to identify a mutually acceptable plan that would meet the needs of our respective communities. We believe this is the right course at this point in time and we each remain committed to delivering excellent care for the communities we serve.”
South County Hospital is Rhode Island’s only independent community hospital and is located in the Wakefield section of South Kingstown.
New Haven Health System is headquartered in New Haven, Conn. The company purchased Westerly Hospital’s parent company, LMW Healthcare Inc., of New London, Conn., in 2016.
This merger attempt was not the first foray South County Health has held in recent years. In 2013, South County Health reached out to several hospitals and health care organizations to gauge interest about a merger.
Chris Bergenheim is the PBN web editor.
