Texas Hospital Giants Baylor Scott & White and Memorial Hermann in Merger Talks

This is awful in general. Consumers get hurt by hospital consolidations. Hospital consolidation is a way to increase leverage against insurance companies to protect margins. Once a hospital system gets this large, insurance companies are essentially forced to keep them in network which gives hospitals more leverage to set prices.

People focus on insurance companies but hospital consolidation is an equal if not larger problem.

 

@justtxyank, counterpoint?

 

I agree with that point.

Memorial Hermann can't really afford for this not to get done though.

 

Clinical, but I don't disagree with you that the benefits suck. The insurance sucks ass but they do match 6 percent. 2 percent more than Methodist.

 

Scott & White rolled out Epic a few years back.
Baylor was on Allscripts but after the merger was transitioned over to Epic.
Memorial is on Cerner. Has been for 20+ years

What will happen after this merger? I would think BSW will try to consolidate IT systems and staff.

 

I really hope they consolidate and get Hermann on EPIC. Cerner and Care4 are ancient and archaic compared to EPIC. It's almost double if not triple the effort to chart in Cerner versus EPIC.

 

A lot of changes going on at BSW, they have been the Texas A&M medical school's teaching hospital for over 30 years but a alot of friction is causing them to break off---I imagine that losing that affiliation played a role too

 

All the major hospitals in Houston are on Epic.
MD Anderson, CHI St. Lukes (also bleeding money big time), Methodist (always profitable for some reason), TCH, Harris Health System, Baylor, Kelsey Sebold..

 

Great more Walmart style McHospitals squeezing out the mom and pops.

 

Merge called off

Baylor Scott & White Health and Memorial Hermann Health System have called off plans for a mega merger that would have created the largest hospital system in Texas.

"After months of thoughtful exploration, we have decided to discontinue talks of a merger between our two systems. Ultimately, we have concluded that as strong, successful organizations, we are capable of achieving our visions for the future without merging at this time. We have a tremendous amount of respect for each other and remain committed to strengthening our communities, advancing the health of Texans and transforming the delivery of care. We will continue to seek opportunities for collaboration as two forward-thinking, mission-driven organizations," a spokesperson said in a statement.

Jim Hinton, CEO of Baylor Scott & White, described the merger process in an interview recently as very demanding. "Not just for me, but for many members of our team who are doing their current jobs and planning how the world could look with the new merger," he said.

The Houston Business Journal obtained an internal memo sent to employees:

"Our goal was never about getting bigger... Our goal is to create a model for integrated, consumer-centric, cost-effective care, and I am confident in Memorial Hermann's ability to accelerate and achieve this effort," CEO and President of Memorial Hermann Chuck Stokes said in the memo.​

 

EPIC is a lot of $$$$$

 

This isn't necessarily a good thing for MH employees in Houston. I suspect changes are still coming our way as MH has a lot of room to improve.

 

People with knowledge / experience about the situation and employees that would have been affected by a merger: is it good or bad, that the merger was called off?

 

I’m glad it got called off so i don’t have to waste time learning a new charting system.

 

For those with EPIC experience, would you all recommend I become EPIC certified and become an EPIC analyst or I become EPIC certified and become an EPIC instructor?

 

Just be glad you're not at St. Luke's. They're an absolute s*** show right now.

 

Sorry should have been clearer. Not an EPIC instructor at their headquarters in Wisconsin but an EPIC instructor at a hospital in Houston.