An administrator with Seton Family of Hospitals confirmed Monday that Scott & White Memorial Hospital contacted the organization Oct. 30 about a possible acquisition of KDH.
The move comes after Scott & White officials announced last week that the April 1 acquisition of KDH was deemed anti-competitive by the Federal Trade Commission. Scott & White had planned to convert KDH into a children's hospital and is still under an agreement with Cook Children's Health Care System of Fort Worth to explore a pediatric health care partnership.
Dr. Alfred Knight, CEO and president of Scott & White, said Friday a "highly regarded health care system" had agreed to a settlement outline for acquiring the hospital, but declined to name the organization.
Mark Hazelwood, president and CEO of Seton North Market, confirmed the two parties have entered into a process of "due diligence."
"We're in the early stages of our discussion," Hazelwood said. "We're obtaining information, asking questions and getting responses."
Seton is a non-profit network of 12 hospitals and additional clinics serving an 11-county population of 1.8 million. Its parent organization is Ascension Health of St. Louis, the nation's largest non-profit, faith-based health care system in the United States, he said.
Any agreement must be approved by a vote of the FTC Full Commission board, said Mitch Katz, FTC public affairs specialist. Katz would not comment on the FTC's investigation, but said the FTC has been involved since April.
If a deal happens, Seton would use KDH as an adult acute care or acute complex care hospital, Hazelwood said. Such a facility offers a broad range of services including open heart surgery and neurosurgery, he said.
The initial plans are similar to those entertained in early 2009, when Seton's board sent the KDH board a Feb. 6 draft letter of intent. However, the process was effectively halted when KDH entered a nondisclosure agreement with Scott & White on Feb. 17.
