Patrick Soon-Shiong arrives at the Trump National Golf Club Bedminster clubhouse in Bedminster Township, N.J. on Saturday, Nov. 19, 2016.
This article has been updated with a comment from Verity Health CEO Andrei Soran.
Entrepreneur and surgeon Patrick Soon-Shiong has ventured into the hospital and patient care business.
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NantWorks, his Culver City, California-based company, has acquired a majority stake in Integrity Healthcare, the management company of Verity Health System.
Through the deal, NantWorks will become the operator of six hospitals. Four of them — O’Connor Hospital, St. Louise Regional Hospital, Seton Medical Center, Seton Coastside — are in northern California, and two — St. Francis Medical Center and St. Vincent Medical Center — are in southern California.
In a statement, Jack Krouskup, chairman of the Verity Health System board of directors, said the collaboration will include expanded oncology, orthopedic, neurology, cardiac, urology, transplant and pediatric services. It also envelops added investments in imaging services and stem cell therapy.
“The transaction between NantWorks and Integrity is an opportunity for Verity Health to accelerate growth and enhance the quality of care available to every individual,” Verity Health CEO Andrei Soran said via email. “The health system will benefit from the visionary leadership of NantWorks founder Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong combined with the experience of our high-performing management team.”
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Verity has been struggling fiscally for some time now. In 2015, private investment firm BlueMountain, which created Integrity Healthcare, purchased Verity and committed $260 million for revitalization efforts.
Now, both NantWorks and BlueMountain have pledged to continue to invest in Verity’s revitalization goals. BlueMountain, the previous majority owner of Integrity, will still hold a minority interest in the organization.
As far as Soon-Shiong’s involvement, this is his first dive into hospital-related endeavors. Though he does have ties to at least one Verity organization. At St. Vincent Medical Center in 1993, he implanted the first artificial pancreas in a human, according to the Los Angeles Times. (Soon-Shiong is a stakeholder in Tronc, which owns the LA Times.)
Additionally, Soon-Shiong will become part of Verity’s board of directors. In a statement, he said:
Our commitment is to enhance the scope of resources of Verity Health so that, together, we can deliver the breakthrough treatments and cures that save lives, provide better patient outcomes and improve well-being. We will achieve this by applying the limitless powers of collaborative science and technology to transform healthcare practices and create a more efficient, more effective health system.
Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post, Getty Image
