UAB Health System Friday celebrated its $450 million acquisition of Ascension St. Vincent’s hospitals, culminating a mammoth deal involving two major Birmingham institutions.
The deal, announced in late June, finalized less than a year after first discussions. But Friday was the official first day, as reflected by the updated signs outside the hospital on St. Vincent’s Drive.
“These are two great health systems separately but imagine what we can do collectively,” UAB Health System CEO Dawn Bulgarella said.
In all, UAB takes control of five hospitals and 19 ambulatory locations in Jefferson, Blount, St. Clair and Chilton counties. It is the largest acquisition ever for the UAB System and for the University of Alabama System as a whole. In addition to UA approval of the deal, the acquisition also needed approval from the Catholic Church.
The deal also involved merging information technology and data systems. Last month, the UA System trustees approved a $380 million new records platform for UAB and St. Vincent’s hospitals in anticipation of the acquisition.
But it also has symbolic resonance, as St. Vincent’s is Birmingham’s oldest, continuously-operated hospital, since its opening in 1898.
Changes already underway
About 5,200 employees have transitioned into the UAB System as part of the merger. Bulgarella said the system “effectively mirrored their existing benefits structure,” with some additions. Titles and compensation remain the same for employees and existing vendor contracts remained in place.
Over the next several months, large scale signage and logos will be transitioned to reflect the change. The former Catholic hospitals will now be called UAB St. Vincent’s.
hile some religious symbols are gone from the hospital, Bulgarella said those were taken by the Catholic diocese before UAB took possession of the property. The hospital’s chapel still remains, along with many reminders of the hospital’s past, and chaplain service will remain, as it does at UAB.
UAB President Ray Watts said the hospital’s essential philosophy has not changed.
“Both of us are very mission focused organizations,” Watts said. “We take care of everyone who needs our care, regardless of their station in life. Welcoming everyone, taking care of the most vulnerable, that really resonates with us. There’s no institution in the state of Alabama that provides more charity care than the UAB Health System.”
On Friday morning, employees lined up in the second floor atrium in Birmingham to pick up swag with the hospital’s new logo.
Betsy Pautler, an 11-year employee with St. Vincent’s, is the hospital’s chief mission integration officer.
“We are reminding all of associates, caregivers, patients and families that our mission remains the same, and we have the opportunity to expand that,” Pautler said. “To see and serve all people with a generous heart, that’s the heart of our missions. I’m so grateful to be a part of this.”
Under the agreement, the UAB Health System Authority has assumed ownership of the hospitals at Birmingham, Blount, Chilton, East and St. Clair, as well as the One Nineteen Campus, the Trussville Freestanding Emergency Department, and imaging centers and other clinics that are part of Ascension Medical Group.
The deal includes Ascension St. Vincent’s services, facilities, caregivers and providers.
Tim Puthoff, CEO of UAB St. Vincent’s Birmingham campus, said Friday was the payoff for “a ton of work.”
“It’s been quite seamless,” he said. “There’s been a tremendous amount of work done. UAB has been very disciplined and methodical in putting transition teams together in place for months. They also engaged in employee consulting, to help put some structure around our transition.
