Harris County Hospital District Terminates Letter of Intent to Purchase Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital Campus



NEWS RELEASE

Harris County Hospital District Terminates Letter of Intent

to Purchase Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital Campus

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

HOUSTON (September 17, 2009) The Harris County Hospital District has officially exercised its option to terminate the non-binding letter of intent to acquire Memorial Hermann Southwest Hospital campus, which was to include four office buildings, vascular, cancer, surgery and outpatient imaging centers and a 629 licensed bed hospital.

The decision by the Harris County Hospital District Board of Managers was made following Memorial Hermann’s written demand to the Hospital District to accelerate the comprehensive due diligence process that was intended to carefully evaluate and determine the advisability of the proposed purchase. Both parties had agreed that the due diligence was to be completed November 30, 2009. Given the legal, financial and operational complexity of the proposed transaction, the Harris County Hospital District concluded that Memorial Hermann’s request to accelerate the process was neither feasible nor realistic, and therefore terminated the non-binding letter of intent.

Effective immediately all projects included in the Harris County Hospital District’s strategic, multi-phase capital program are back on full schedule. The construction and renovation projects are transforming the Hospital District from a hospital-centric system into a patient-centered healthcare delivery platform emphasizing community-based primary care. The long-planned construction and expansion projects will serve more patients faster and with greater efficiency to enhance patient satisfaction and continue the tradition of providing high-quality care.

The 122,000 square foot Ambulatory Care Tower to be built on the Hospital District’s Holly Hall campus will house the majority of diagnostic services and specialty clinics now located in Ben Taub General Hospital. Designed exclusively for outpatients, the facility will deliver services in a patient-centered environment and will house 80 specialty exam rooms, a Radiation Therapy Center, Diagnostic Imaging Center, Breast Center of Excellence and Ambulatory Care Center, with an adjacent parking garage.

In spring 2010, the new 64,000 square foot Martin Luther King Health Center and Eligibility Center will open, replacing the current in-hospital facility at the district’s Quentin Mease Community Hospital, expanding capacity to 100,000 patients a year. Renovation at Quentin Mease Hospital will expand outpatient rehabilitation facilities to 15,000 square feet.

The renovation and expansion of Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital Emergency Center is expected to increase capacity to 90,000 annual patient visits. The project will add 30,000 square feet of space and remodel an additional 25,000 square feet, featuring 64 individual exam rooms surrounding a nursing station, all to enhance both efficiency and the patient experience. Planned renovation projects at Ben Taub General Hospital will increase the capacity of the region’s busiest Emergency Center, add a same-day surgery center, and create space to move non-clinical functions out of the hospital, which will increase inpatient capacity.

The new and renovated facilities of the Harris County Hospital District are designed to ensure that patients are seen at the right time, by the right professional caregivers, in the right location. As the Hospital District grows, it will continue to deliver uncompromising quality healthcare to the community.



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The Harris County Hospital District is the public health care system for the nation's third most-populous county. It provides quality health care for more than one million patient visits each year to residents of Harris County. It operates Ben Taub General Hospital, Lyndon B. Johnson General Hospital, Quentin Mease Community Hospital, 13 community health centers, a dental center, a dialysis center, eight school-based clinics, 13 homeless shelter clinics and five mobile health units.

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