Skaggs signs letter of intent with CoxHealth

Officials with the Skaggs Regional Medical Center Board of Directors and CoxHealth today signed a letter of intent to form a financial partnership.

Springfield-based CoxHealth was one of two finalists to become a strategic partner with the Branson hospital. Executives from CoxHealth, including CEO Steve Edwards, and Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Hospitals, the other finalist, visited Skaggs in recent weeks as part of the six-month search process.

"We have all put hundreds of hours toward this effort and believe that we have found the partner that best meets our operational objectives and the needs of the Branson community," Skaggs Board of Directors Chairman David Smith said in a news release. "We also believe that CoxHealth provides the best fit for us, sharing our commitments to maintaining jobs and providing the highest quality of care."

The two health systems now enter a due diligence period, after which the Skaggs Board of directors will recommend a definitive agreement to the Skaggs Board of Trustees, likely in early fall. The agreement also is pending approval by the Missouri attorney general.

As a part of the agreement, Skaggs would function as a subsidiary of CoxHealth but would keep its name, board, current employees, management and medical staff. Though Skaggs would maintain some independence, the partnership would unify the organizations for purchasing, contracting and other business matters, the release said.

“CoxHealth will keep Skaggs’ governance and dollars local, and the investment that we are making with this partnership will allow us to bolster the services available to the Branson Tri-Lakes region,” Edwards said in the release. “We will expand services, facilities and the talent pool with a focus on ever improving the level of quality care provided.”

CoxHealth's proposal includes capital investments including operating room and emergency department improvements, facility refurbishment and technology upgrades. Financial details of the partnership were not released.

Skaggs started the search for a strategic partner in late January, narrowed the pool of candidates down to six in April and selected the two finalists later that month. The search for a financial partner was prompted by years of operating losses, including a $1.9 million operating loss in fiscal 2011.