Indiana University Health has sold its minority ownership interest in La Porte Hospital and Starke Hospital in Knox.
La Porte Hospital and Stark Hospital now will be governed by a single ownership structure, according to a statement released from the hospitals.
La Porte and Starke hospitals are owned by a subsidiary of Community Health Systems Inc. in Franklin, Tenn., which operates 118 hospitals across 20 states, including several in Indiana.
Community Health System purchased an 80 percent stake in La Porte Hospital in March 2016 with IU Health maintaining a 20 percent ownership interest.
IU Health’s decision to sell its share in the La Porte and Starke hospitals was described as amicable.
“For many years, our physicians and staff have worked with IU Health to provide access and high-quality care for the community,” said Ashley Dickinson, CEO of La Porte and Starke hospitals. “We appreciate the relationship we’ve had and look forward to working alongside them and other providers to improve the health of Indiana residents.”
Joy Kleinmaier, senior vice president – IU Health, said her organization enjoyed its partnership with the La Porte and Starke hospitals.
“We share a common mission to improve the health of Hoosiers and believe they will continue to serve the community well,” she said.
It should be business as usual for La Porte and Starke hospitals as well as its patients, officials said. The hospitals’ boards of trustees, which include local community members and physicians will remain in place.
Hospital officials said the most notable changes will be on signage, brochures and other materials for La Porte and Starke hospitals, which will no longer use IU's trident symbol and language, “An affiliate of IU Health.”
The change also does not impact the new La Porte Hospital project, which has a groundbreaking scheduled for Aug. 23.
(Editor's note: This story was corrected from a previously published online version, which incorrectly reported a statement about the sale was released by Porter Health Care System.)
