One of the country's largest health systems, Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare Corporation, is officially moving into the Tucson market.
The for-profit company has signed a "definitive agreement" to create a partnership where it will be majority owner and operator of the Tucson-based Catholic Carondelet Health Network, officials announced Wednesday.
Missouri-based Ascension is the current owner of the non-profit network, which includes three Southern Arizona hospitals — Carondelet Holy Cross in Nogales, Arizona, and Carondelet St. Joseph's and Carondelet St. Mary's hospitals, both in Tucson. The health network in recent years had been struggling financially.
Ascension will now be a minority owner, along with San Francisco-based non-profit Dignity Health, according to a joint news release.
Officials said they are not disclosing financial terms at the moment, though they did confirm that Carondelet will be going from non-profit to a for-profit tax-paying company.
The release says that the joint venture will maintain Carondelet's Catholic heritage and identity through an agreement with the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson. Additionally, Carondelet's existing charity care policies will remain in place, officials said.
The transaction is expected to close by October.
