Bon Secours Health System, Inc., is consolidating its Richmond and Hampton Roads operations to form Bon Secours Virginia, creating one of the largest health systems – and the only faith-based, integrated health delivery network – in the state.
Peter J. Bernard, CEO of Bon Secours Richmond, assumed leadership of Bon Secours Virginia and its seven hospitals on July 4. Richard A. Hanson, CEO of Bon Secours Hampton Roads, was appointed senior vice president of performance management for the state system.
“The integration of Richmond with our sister system in Hampton Roads is strategic and purposeful,” said Bernard in a prepared statement. “Our goal is to sustain the mission-driven care that Bon Secours provides both in Hampton Roads and Richmond. Our faith-based care and the legendary mission of the Sisters of Bon Secours have made many positive advancements in healthcare across Virginia and bringing it under one umbrella will only move our mission forward.”
The consolidation creates opportunities to “improve the quality and access to health care services across the state of Virginia and business processes across Bon Secours Health System,” said Richard J. Statuto, CEO of the national Bon Secours organization.
Bacon’s bottom line: The consolidation follows a move announced earlier this month by HCA, Bon Secours’ main Richmond-area rival, to combine its Richmond and Northern Virginia operations. Neither company has explained the economic rationale behind the consolidations in any detail. Statuto’s quote suggests that there may be opportunities to rationalize behind the scenes “business processes.”
The hospital sector has been notoriously slow, for example, to use IT systems to drive improvements in productivity and patient care. But that may be changing. Agility Healthcare Systems, a Richmond developer of enterprise software for hospitals, counts Bon Secours Richmond as one of its major clients, and the company announced last fall that former Bon Secours CEO Christopher Carney was joining the Agility board as chairman.