University of Arizona president Ann Weaver Hart sent a memo to the UA campus community this afternoon that says a deal with Banner Health is set to close Jan. 31.
Peter Fine, CEO of Phoenix-based Banner Health, will be sharing a similar communication with Banner employees and stakeholders, Hart wrote.
The governing board of the state's public universities and the UA Health Network board gave unanimous support in June to a Banner Health partnership with the UA College of Medicine, as well as a Banner acquisition of the private, independent UA Health Network.
The UA Health Network was created in 2010 through a merger between University Medical Center Corp. and University Physicians Healthcare. It includes two teaching hospitals, the UA Medical Center-University campus at 1501 N. Campbell Ave. and UA Medical Center-South at 2800 E. Ajo Way.
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The network also includes clinics, a physician practice plan that staffs the teaching hospitals with doctors from the UA, as well as its health insurance plans.
The Arizona Board of Regents and the Tucson-based UA Health Network board voted to move forward with the Banner deal at a special meeting in Tucson. Officials touted the deal as a way to stay competitive in the U.S. health-care market, which is increasingly being dominated by large health systems.
The UA Medical Center at 1501 N. Campbell Ave. houses the region's only top-level trauma center, offers specialized treatments that aren't available at other local hospitals and has research doctors with dual faculty appointments at the university. It was built with taxpayer money and its name fuels a sense of public ownership.
But the hospital is a private entity. The UA, which had previously owned and operated the hospital, decided to privatize it in 1984. At that time, the University Medical Center Corp. agreed to assume existing liabilities of $11.7 million and to pay a base rental fee of $10 per year.
"I want to thank all those who helped bring us to this point," Hart wrote. "The proposals under discussion will enable a bright future for medical education and innovation at the UA and top-quality patient care in Tucson and throughout Arizona."
There was a public hearing about Banner's acquisition of one of the UA Health Network's health plans, the public was never asked to give its input into the merger itself until last week when a public hearing was held, according to a UA Health Network spokeswoman.
