Carroll Hospital to be part of LifeBridge Health

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The number of independent hospitals in Maryland will soon dwindle further, now that Carroll Hospital Center has agreed to join the LifeBridge Health system.

The move, confirmed Thursday by officials from both organizations, also marks LifeBridge’s first expansion into Carroll County.

Rumors had been circulating for more than a year about the possibility of a merger between the two hospitals, and Leslie Simmons, Carroll’s president and CEO, said in an interview she’s relieved to move the process forward.

“We’re very excited to finally be able to announce it,” Simmons said. “It’s something we’ve been working on for a long time. … It’s one of the biggest decisions our organization will ever make, so we wanted to make sure we got it right.”

Officials said in a statement that they signed a letter of intent to “form a partnership,” but Simmons confirmed in an interview that the final action will be a full merger of the two entities, with Carroll coming under the LifeBridge umbrella.

The two organizations have started to negotiate the parameters of a final agreement, which is expected to be completed early next year. Simmons said she could not disclose any financial details because the negotiations are confidential.

State and federal regulators will need to sign off on the final agreement, as will the boards of both organizations.

Standalones challenged

For Carroll Hospital, a 193-bed facility in Westminster that is the county’s second-largest employer, the merger with LifeBridge opens the door to enhanced clinical offerings and improved patient satisfaction, Simmons said.

For LifeBridge — whose services are concentrated in Northwest Baltimore — the deal enables the system to expand beyond its core catchment area.

LifeBridge Health includes Sinai Hospital, Northwest Hospital, Levindale Hebrew Geriatric Center and Hospital, as well as a number of community physician practices and other affiliates.

Moreover, for many standalone medical centers in Maryland and across the country, it has simply become too challenging to remain unaffiliated.

About one-third of Maryland’s 47 acute care hospitals remain independent within the state. However, fewer than 10 of those are wholly unaffiliated with any other entity. For example, Mercy Medical Center in Baltimore is independent in Maryland, but is affiliated with the Sisters of Mercy, a national health care organization.

Simmons said Carroll has so far managed to stay afloat on its own in a rapidly evolving health care environment, but that going forward, the hospital will need the financial, technological and personnel support of a larger organization.

“Health care is being transformed, and I think a hospital needs to have size and scale in order to meet the demands that will be required of us as we focus on population-health initiatives,” Simmons said, referencing new incentives that encourage providers to try improving the health of entire communities.

“So, coming together as a larger entity will certainly position us to have the resources and talent we need to achieve that,” she added.

Specifically, LifeBridge has committed to bringing additional specialty services to Carroll, including cardiology and neonatology, as well as more outpatient and urgent care facilities.

Simmons said she’s excited to be able to offer more services right in the community. In the past, patients were often transferred to hospitals in Baltimore for complex or specialized care.

It’s too early to commit to specific construction projects, but LifeBridge President and CEO Neil Meltzer said upgrades will be made to the existing hospital and that additional facilities will likely be built in “strategic locations.”

LifeBridge has spent the past year or so expanding its operation in other ways, such as by becoming a part owner of ExpressCare, a network of urgent care clinics, and buying up more physician practices.

Meltzer said LifeBridge has no specific plans to acquire another hospital any time soon, but he said the option won’t be off the table down the line.

Carroll took its time selecting the right health system with which to partner, Simmons said. Executives settled on LifeBridge because of shared priorities — she and Meltzer both emphasized their “community-oriented” values — and because it made sense geographically.

Their service areas overlap in places like Reisterstown and Eldersburg, but Meltzer said he intends to expand even beyond their shared geography, perhaps as far north as Pennsylvania.

“I’m just very excited to roll up my sleeves and, with Leslie, really get some great things done,” he said.