HealthTrust and Steward Health Care Extend Exclusive Supply Chain Agreement

HealthTrust, a leading Group Purchasing Organization (GPO) and performance improvement company for healthcare, and Steward Health Care, the largest private, physician-owned and led hospital system in the U.S., announced a long-term extension of the companies’ exclusive agreement for supply chain and GPO support services.

HealthTrust is committed to strengthening provider performance and clinical excellence through an aligned membership model and the delivery of total spend management advisory solutions that leverage operator experience, scale and innovation. HealthTrust serves over 1,600 hospitals and health systems, and more than 55,000 other locations including ambulatory surgery centers, physician practices, long-term care and alternate care sites.

HealthTrust, a subsidiary of HCA Healthcare, uses a consolidated business model and best practice methodologies in developing, implementing and monitoring cost-efficient initiatives and programs for HCA Healthcare hospitals, surgery centers and imaging centers.

Founded in 2010, Steward Health Care is the largest physician-owned health care network with more than 5,500 providers and 45,000 health care professionals empowering the health and wellness journey of 12.3 million patients annually through its extensive global network of hospitals, urgent care centers, skilled nursing facilities and behavioral health services.

Private-equity backed Steward Health Care was acquired in June 2020 by a group of Steward Health Care physicians led by the company’s CEO, Dr. Ralph de la Torre, making it the largest physician-owned healthcare system in the country.

Steward Health Care operates 39 (44 after the finalization of the recently announced South Florida acquisitions) hospitals around the world, including 34 across Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Utah, as well as five internationally within Malta and Colombia.

Steward Health Care recently entered an agreement to acquire five hospitals and associated operations from Tenet Healthcare for about $1.1bn. The agreement covers five hospitals and their related physician practices located in the Miami-Dade and Southern Broward counties in Florida, US. These hospitals are Coral Gables Hospital, Florida Medical Center, Hialeah Hospital, North Shore Medical Center and Palmetto General Hospital.

Takeaway: HealthTrust is a critical component of HCA Healthcare’s strategy to improve performance and reduce costs by consolidating non-clinical and administrative functions