Catholic chain that owns hospitals in Paducah and Irvine plans to merge with one that owns Our Lady of Bellefonte near Ashland

Lourdes Hospital (West Kentucky Star photo)

Cincinnati-based Mercy Health, which owns Lourdes Hospital in Paducah and Marcum and Wallace Memorial Hospital in Irvine, is merging with Maryland-based Bon Secours Health System, which owns Our Lady of Bellefonte Hospital in Greenup County, near Ashland.

The two Roman Catholic chains will "form a 43-hospital entity that serves seven states," and would be "the fifth-largest Catholic health system in the country," Alex Kacik reports for Modern Healthcare. Executives of the chains said that would "leverage economies of scale to deliver better, more affordable care," Kacik reports, based on a joint press release. "They expect to complete the merger by the end of the year."

Photo by Kevin Goldy, Ashland Daily Independent

Kacik adds, "The combined system would have $8 billion in net operating revenue and $293 million in operating income. More than 57,000 associates and 2,100 employed physicians and advance practice clinicians would work in more than 1,000 locations across the East Coast, Ohio and Kentucky, including more than 50 home health agencies, hospices, skilled-nursing and assisted-living facilities."

Mercy Health, the largest hospital chain in Ohio, operated a hospital in Owensboro until 1995, when it merged with Owensboro-Daviess County Hospital and was renamed Owensboro Mercy Health System. In 2003, the hospital and other facilities became Owensboro Medical Health System, which opened the new Owensboro Health hospital in 2013.