University Health set to acquire former CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Medical Center
University Health has agreed to purchase the 45 acre CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Hospital – Medical Center campus – including a 236,000 sq ft hospital and two medical office buildings – for $71 million, with an additional $20 million earmarked for renovations and equipment, according to a report. This move enables University Health to rapidly expand its footprint and relieve capacity pressures at its flagship facility amidst surging patient demand.
CHRISTUS Health closed the Medical Center location in April 2025 as part of a consolidation strategy, shifting services to nearby expanded campuses at Westover Hills and Alamo Heights, supported by over $300 million in recent investments. The sale ensures the facility continues to serve the community under University Health, preserving its mission-driven care model.
University Health’s planned takeover will help “decompress” the strain by offering additional inpatient and ambulatory care services, including emergency, cardiology, transplant, and rehabilitation – all aimed at reducing wait times and improving system efficiency.
Notably, the acquisition will be funded through existing resources without any tax rate increase, making it a strategic expansion that respects taxpayer constraints.
UNC Health Rex, Brasseler Surgical form partnership
UNC Health Rex Hospital, based in Raleigh, N.C., recently formed a partnership with Brasseler Surgical in an effort to cut costs across the system. This strategic partnership was formed because of Brasseler Surgical’s high quality orthopedic cutting accessories, which met the high standards of quality and performance for orthopedic procedures while also cutting costs.
According to a news release, partnerships like the UNC Health Rex-Brassler Initiative shows the value of finding solutions that can benefit both parties, emphasizing things like engaging frontline staff and clinicians in cost-saving discussions, partnering with suppliers to identify value-driven solutions, and recognizing and celebrating achievements to inspire further innovation.
BayCare taps Northwestern Medicine in academic health system push
BayCare & Northwestern Medicine announced a strategic collaboration this summer.
BayCare, one of Florida’s leading not-for-profit health systems, and Northwestern Medicine, Chicago’s premier integrated academic health system, are embarking on a strategic collaboration to expand access to advanced medical treatments, enhance clinical research, and improve training and education for current and future physicians in West Central Florida, according to a release.
By joining forces with Northwestern Medicine, BayCare gains enhanced capacity for advanced medical treatments and clinical research in the region. This bolsters patient access to cutting-edge therapies locally.
New data show better outcomes for hospitalized surgical patients
Patients in the hospital for surgeries had better outcomes in 2024 than they did in 2019, according to a new report released by the American Hospital Association and Vizient®.
The significant improvement aligned not only with better performance on patient safety metrics – such as reductions in infections and falls – but also with marked declines in three major surgical patient safety indicators: severe bleeding, sepsis and respiratory failure.
The new findings build on a report AHA released in collaboration with Vizient last year showing that hospitals and health systems performed better on key patient safety and quality measures in the first quarter of 2024 than they did before the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, hospitals’ efforts to improve safety led to 200,000 Americans hospitalized between April 2023 and March 2024 surviving episodes of care they wouldn’t have in 2019.