Mechanicsburg-based Select Medical has signed an agreement to acquire Vibra Hospital of Richmond, a 63-bed long-term acute care hospital in Richmond, Virginia.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Under Select Medical’s ownership, the hospital will carry the brand Select Specialty Hospital – Richmond and provide post-ICU medical care for chronic, critically ill patients requiring extended healing and recovery.
Select Specialty Hospital – Richmond expands the company’s presence in Virginia, joining Select Specialty Hospital – Hampton Roads in Newport News, Inova Specialty Hospital in Mount Vernon (opening in May), Riverside Rehabilitation Hospital in Yorktown and 43 Select Physical Therapy outpatient centers across the state.
“We look forward to bringing the industry’s highest quality of critical illness recovery care to Richmond as the needs for this patient population continue to grow across the region,” Tom Mullin, executive vice president of hospital operations at Select Medical, said in a release. “The acquisition will also extend Select Medical’s care continuum in Virginia providing access to a full network of inpatient and outpatient care settings throughout a patient’s recovery journey.”
Based on number of facilities, Select Medical is one of the largest operators of critical illness recovery hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation clinics and occupational health centers in the United States. Last fall, Select Medical announced it was opening an inpatient rehab hospital on the West Shore.
Mechanicsburg-based Select Medical and OhioHealth announced that their joint venture partnership, OHRH LLC, signed an agreement with Reunion Hospital Holdings to acquire the operating assets of Reunion Rehabilitation Hospital in Dublin, Ohio.
The new facility will be renamed OhioHealth Rehabilitation Hospital – Dublin. It will feature 40 private rooms and state-of-the-art rehabilitation technology and equipment to treat patients recovering from stroke, spinal cord injury, brain injury, amputation, neurological disorders and orthopedic conditions.
Additionally, the joint venture is expanding to provide neuro transitional care outside of central Ohio. The Select Medical/OhioHealth partnership will break ground this spring to build a 12-bed rehabilitation neuro transitional center in Dublin. The NTC will be a first for this region.
“We are thrilled to expand our partnership with OhioHealth to meet the growing needs of the central Ohio region,” Tom Mullin, executive vice president of hospital operations at Select Medical, said in a release. “Combined, our rehabilitation hospitals and NTC will include 126 beds with highly trained interdisciplinary clinical teams providing world-class care to help patients restore their function and independence and return to community.”
The new OhioHealth Rehabilitation Neuro Transitional Center will be staffed by a clinical team providing care in a residential setting for people recovering from stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury and other neurological diseases. The center is expected to open in spring 2024.
The Select Medical and OhioHealth JV expanded partnership also includes 38 NovaCare outpatient physical therapy centers across Ohio.
Select Medical is one of the largest operators of critical illness recovery hospitals, rehabilitation hospitals, outpatient rehabilitation clinics and occupational health centers in the United States based on number of facilities, the release said. As of Dec. 31, 2022, it operated 103 critical illness recovery hospitals in 28 states, 31 rehabilitation hospitals in 12 states and 1,928 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 39 states and the District of Columbia.
U.S. News & World Report once again ranked Central Pennsylvania hospitals high for patient care for 2022-23.
Lancaster General Hospital was ranked fourth in the state for the second consecutive year and received top honors in Lancaster County.
Hershey Medical Center was recognized as the top hospital in the Harrisburg metro region and fifth in the state by the magazine.
And Select Medical in Mechanicsburg was recognized as a Best Hospital for rehabilitation in the country.
The annual Best Hospitals rankings and ratings, now in their 33rd year, are designed to assist patients and their doctors in making informed decisions about where to receive quality care for challenging health conditions or elective procedures, according to U.S. News & World Report.
Methodology for determining rankings and ratings includes measures such as patient survival rates, patient experience, how successfully hospitals help patients get back home, as well as data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, American Hospital Association, professional organizations and medical specialists.
Hershey Medical Center was ranked as one of the best in the nation for orthopedic care.
The hospital was also recognized as High Performing in gastroenterology and GI surgery, geriatrics, neurology and neurosurgery, pulmonology and lung surgery and urology.
Lancaster General Hospital, which is part of University of Pennsylvania Health System (Penn Medicine), was nationally ranked in two medical specialties of diabetes & endocrinology and orthopedics. The hospital also earned “high performing” rankings in 21 medical specialties and common procedures and conditions.
“This national recognition once again affirms the dedication of our exceptional LG Health staff, and our deep commitment to fulfilling our Mission to advance the health and well-being of the communities we serve,” said John Herman, CEO of Penn Medicine Lancaster General Health. “Of the more than 4,500 medical centers nationwide evaluated, only 164 hospitals earned a national ranking in at least one specialty, making our honors in two specialties even more significant.”
LGH ranked among the nation’s top-ranked hospitals in the specialties of orthopedics (30th tie) and diabetes & endocrinology (46th). In addition, LGH earned national, “high performing” rankings in five specialties: cardiology, gastroenterology & GI surgery, geriatrics, urology, and pulmonology & lung surgery.
LGH also rated as “high performing” in 16 common adult procedures and conditions, including, abdominal aortic aneurysm repair, aortic valve surgery, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), colon cancer surgery, diabetes, heart attack, heart bypass surgery, heart failure, hip fracture, hip replacement, kidney failure, knee replacement, lung cancer surgery, maternity care, uterine cancer surgery, and stroke.
Penn State Health’s Holy Spirit Medical Center was rated as a High Performing hospital for treating chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure and stroke. St. Joseph Medical Center earned a High Performing rating for treating COPD, heart failure and stroke.
“As our health system grows, our commitment to high-quality, compassionate patient care remains the same,” said Deborah Addo, executive vice president and COO for Penn State Health. “These ratings and rankings are a reflection of our investment not only in growth, new facilities and our employees, but also in bringing all of the care Penn State Health has to offer to where it’s most convenient for our patients.”
For the 2022-23 Best Hospitals rankings and ratings, U.S. News evaluated more than 4,500 hospitals across 15 specialties and 20 procedures and conditions. State and metro area rankings reflect the highest performing hospitals in the area across multiple areas of care, according to the magazine.
In September two major Pennsylvanian employers, Harsco Corp. and Rite Aid, announced they would be leaving their headquarters in Cumberland County to open new main offices in Philadelphia.
Harsco explained in its announcement of the planned 2023 move that it was leaving the region to expand its infrastructure and have access to a more diverse hiring pool. For Rite Aid, the move is part of the company’s new “remote-first” strategy that could see it opening a regional office in the midstate.
While Harsco and Rite Aid plan to leave their Cumberland County headquarters in the coming years, it is anything but a sign of things to come, said Ryan Unger, president and CEO of the Harrisburg Regional Chamber and CREDC.
“Both companies made the decisions that they did based on their own employees and market competition and things like that,” said Unger. “Whenever you look at a region and its industrial heritage, you will see times where companies evolve, grow and shrink and this is part of that process.”
So, while Rite Aid and Harsco are moving, other local employers are doubling down on the region, citing its assets for raising a family, and proximity to major cities and the state capital.
A Giant investment
Nicholas Bertram. PHOTO/PROVIDED
In the last three years, Carlisle-based The Giant Company has grown its employee base by 5,000, acquired four companies and launched multiple new services and partnerships. That growth has been mirrored in the company’s Carlisle headquarters, which received an expansion this year that included remodeling, upgraded technology and a new auditorium.
The campus also houses Giant’s sister companies Retail Business Services, ADUSA Supply Chain Services and Peapod Digital Labs.
Giant views each of its 190 locations as a headquarters given the company’s emphasis on community, however, investing in the midstate as the center of the company’s operations has proven fruitful, said Nicholas Bertram, president and CEO of Giant.
“The people who grew up here absolutely love it and the people who came here, like me, absolutely love it,” Bertram said. “There are great schools, great infrastructure—It’s a wonderful place to live. If you look at the growth in Cumberland County, it’s clear that a lot of people are moving into this area.”
Bertram pointed out out another major asset to the company, the region’s highway system, which it relies on for its distribution center in Cumberland County, dry grocery storage in York and frozen storage campus in Lancaster.
As Pennsylvania’s second largest employer, Giant also values its proximity to Harrisburg.
“For those companies with more influence on the Commonwealth, it makes sense to be closer to the capital,” Bertram said.
Calling the West Shore home
Philip Brenckle. PHOTO/PROVIDED
Home remodeling company West Shore Home in Mechanicsburg has expanded to 11 states over three years—a feat the company attributes to a consistent and predictable strategic growth plan and an initial acquisition that brought the company into North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
“We are focused on making home remodeling fast, easy, convenient and having a focus on customer service,” said Philip Brenckle, CFO at West Shore Home. “For right now, as we scale nationally, we are staying within our verticals to make sure we offer the best experience in windows, doors, showers and baths.”
West Shore Home employs about 1,700 people, which is up 750 employees since the pandemic started.
“We grew just as rapidly prior to the pandemic as we did during, and we look to continue to grow,” said Brenckle. “We saw a surge during the pandemic. The biggest opportunity we seized during the pandemic was the labor force. Many companies were going to shed labor and once we realized that we decided to go on the offensive.”
West Shore Home’s employee growth caused the company to add more corporate positions in human resources, legal, accounting and more, adding up to 400 corporate positions.
The remodeling company opened a new corporate headquarters in Mechanicsburg this year. The open design concept features 56,184 square feet and room for more than 560 employees. It has an in-house coffee café, employee training center, private breakout rooms and a podcast studio.
West Shore Home’s investment in the midstate comes from its origins in the region as well as the positives that the region holds for employees, said Brenckle.
“Our founder was born and raised in Pennsylvania, this is the birth place of our company,” he said. “Just as importantly, we believe that Central Pennsylvania has a lot to offer: exceptional costs of living, it’s close to a lot of major cities and there’s access to large major markets.”
Selecting the midstate
Bob Ortenzio. PHOTO/PROVIDED
Select Medical in Mechanicsburg is the country’s largest post-acute care company at $6 billion in revenue.
This year the company joined the ranks of the Fortune 500, something that Bob Ortenzio, co-founder and executive chairman attributed to the region the company started in.
“This area supported the company and helped us grow from a pure startup to a Fortune 500 Company,” Ortenzio said. “It supported us as a small company, through huge growth years and it supported us in being a national leader in what we do.”
In the last five years, Select Medical has doubled in size from $3 billion in revenue to $6 billion and currently operates 140 specialty hospitals, 1800 outpatient clinics and 522 occupational medicine centers.
Within the midstate alone Select Medical operates four hospitals, two occupational medicine locations and 40 outpatient clinics.
The company’s campus consists of six buildings in Mechanicsburg with a majority of its services centralized to the campus. A portion of its operations are also located at an office building in Camp Hill.
“We would never move from Central Pennsylvania. We want to continue to invest in the region, invest in our people that are here,” said Ortenzio. “It may not be the best to access our West Coast operations, but we do a lot of work in DC, a lot of our banks are in New York and we have a lot of operations in the South—we have access to the whole Eastern seaboard from here.”
Select Medical has found success recruiting staff for its Mechanicsburg headquarters thanks to the state’s strong educational institutions and the growing economies of the region’s cities, said Ortenzio.
“I believe in the continued growth for the city of Harrisburg. The company and I have supported places like Harrisburg University which continue to grow,” he said. “This area has grown a lot. It’s been great for our employees and we are a big advocate.”
Ortenzio also pointed out Harrisburg International Airport as a nearby asset for Select Medical, noting that while it is not as big as an Atlanta or Philadelphia airport, the company still brings clients to the region through the airport.
“We have a lot of people who travel here and say that Harrisburg is a joy to fly out of. You can get to Atlanta, Chicago, Charlotte, Nashville and Philadelphia,” he said. “We have an airport; we have a great base for education and we have good housing. What more does a growing company need?”
Improving on a good thing
Ryan Unger. PHOTO/ PROVIDED.
Part of the region’s success as a place for businesses to grow as quickly as organizations like Select Medical, West Shore Home and Giant have, is that the midstate’s economic centers follow the “15-minute city” residential urban planning concept, according to Unger.
In residential planning, the 15-minute city refers to the idea where a resident is able to get their daily necessities by foot or by bike within 15 minutes—an idea popularized by French cities expert Carlos Moreno. Those necessities include education, health care, arts and culture, parks and recreation, grocery stores and walkability and transit.
“You want to check all of those boxes off. When we speak with businesses that want to come here, we highlight that,” Unger said.
Organizations like the Harrisburg Regional Chamber continue to find ways to create workforce development programs with area business leaders to ensure that midstate businesses continue to have access to talent. That doesn’t mean that the region doesn’t already have a diverse talent pool to draw from, said Unger.
“We have a great workforce here. (West Shore Home, Select Medical and Giant) wouldn’t be able to grow if they didn’t have employees and access to talent,” he said. “We want to continue to work on that. We have all the assets we need here in the region to succeed.”
Mechanicsburg-based Select Medical entered a joint venture partnership with Northwest Healthcare, a subsidiary of Community Health Systems, to acquire Curahealth Tucson, a 47-bed long-term acute care hospital.
Subject to regulatory approval, the transaction is expected to close early in the third quarter of this year.
In September, Select Medical and Northwest Healthcare plan to relocate the Curahealth Tucson hospital to the Northwest Transitions building, on the campus of Northwest Medical Center. Curahealth Tucson will be renamed Select Specialty Hospital – Tucson Northwest and managed by Select Medical, the majority owner.
“We are excited to partner with Northwest Healthcare to provide specialty care to high acuity patients in Tucson and surrounding communities,” Tom Mullin, Select Medical’s executive vice president and chief operating officer of specialty hospitals, said in a release.
He added that the partnership expands Select Medical’s post-acute care footprint in Arizona. That now includes three Select Specialty critical illness recovery hospitals (licensed as long-term acute care hospitals) and three inpatient rehabilitation hospitals, with a fourth under construction.
As of March 31, Select Medical operated 99 critical illness recovery hospitals in 28 states, 30 rehabilitation hospitals in 12 states, and 1,809 outpatient rehabilitation clinics in 37 states and the District of Columbia, according to the release. It had combined operations in 46 states and the District of Columbia and employed more than 48,000 people.
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