Mary Washington’s independent status increasingly rare

Tuesday’s announcement that Fauquier Hospital’s parent will merge with Tennessee-based LifePoint Hospitals leaves Mary Washington Healthcare on an increasingly small list of Virginia hospital operators that are locally controlled.

LifePoint, a public company that trades on the NASDAQ, has nearly 60 hospitals in 20 states. Warrenton-based Fauquier Health announced Tuesday that its board of directors has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding to form the joint venture with LifePoint.

If the merger does go through, it would be the latest example of community health systems teaming with larger corporate chains.

Other examples in the past few years include the University of Virginia Health System buying a 49 percent interest in Culpeper Regional Hospital; Novant Health buying Prince William Hospital; and Sentara Healthcare buying Potomac Hospital, Rockingham Memorial Hospital, Martha Jefferson Hospital  and Halifax Regional Health System.

That leaves Mary Washington Healthcare, which operates Mary Washington Hospital and Stafford Hospital as well as numerous other local healthcare facilities, among a shrinking number of “solo practitioners” in Virginia. Among the others are Augusta Health, Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, Community Memorial Healthcenter and Virginia Hospital Center.

Mary Washington Healthcare President and CEO Fred Rankin said in an email Wednesday that the not-for-profit is not “actively in dialogue with anyone to be sold” and has not issued a request for proposals regarding a sale.

“All that said, healthcare is in the midst of a massive transformation and our board has not taken any option off the table,” Rankin wrote. “The most important consideration driving our board is our mission. That is how do we best deliver health care to the citizens of Fredericksburg in the future.”

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