St. Mary's Medical Center and HIMG Announce Planned Acquisition

St. Mary’s Medical Center (SMMC), a member of Mountain Health Network (MHN), and Huntington Internal Medicine Group (HIMG) announce today that each of their Boards of Directors have approved SMMC’s acquisition of the assets of HIMG.

SMMC will file an application with the West Virginia Health Care Authority to review the transaction as part of the Certificate of Need process this week. Upon receiving the approval of the Authority, plans will be made to consummate the transaction by September.

“St. Mary’s and HIMG have a long-standing history of working together to serve the community,” stated Todd Campbell, president of SMMC. “We share a commitment of meeting the health needs of the residents of our region and are aligned in our missions to provide excellent patient experience, high-quality medical care and education.”

SMMC will maintain the HIMG name and HIMG physicians will continue to provide services at their current location on Route 60 in Huntington.

“For almost 50 years, HIMG has provided world-class medical services for the Tri-State,” stated Mark Morgan, chief executive officer, HIMG. “In January 2018, HIMG was a founding partner with Marshall Health and Cabell Huntington Hospital to launch the MHC Accountable Care Organization. Through this collaboration we have formed an innovative, highly coordinated, quality-driven approach in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP). This partnership has demonstrated the value of working as a team to successfully coordinate and cooperate to benefit patient care.”

“Our founders helped to build the outstanding medical care that the Huntington area offers today,” stated Daniel Snavely, MD, chair of the HIMG board of directors. “Many
of my physician partners and I have had the privilege of serving on the medical staffs at both St. Mary’s and Cabell Huntington Hospital. We have been an integral part of helping Huntington grow as a health care destination and look forward to formally joining St. Mary’s and Mountain Health to provide an even higher level of technology,
access and quality medical services to the community.”

“We acknowledge that an acquisition during the COVID pandemic is unexpected,” stated Mike Mullins, president and CEO, Mountain Health Network. “While this is a difficult economic time, both boards recognize the acquisition is an important investment for our region’s future and are committed to bringing it to fruition. When complete, HIMG will join SMMC, CHH and Marshall Health as we build an information technology platform to better serve all patients. In addition, we will be better able to recruit talented physicians to our system and offer them the option of working in an academic setting, private practice setting or both. I have the utmost respect for the physicians and leadership of HIMG and look forward to working together.”