Banner's end run must end; Company plays chess with assets it inherited while communities pay the price.(Opinions-Commentary)(Column)

Modern Healthcare, March, 2003 by Gorham, Barbara

Byline: Barbara Gorham

Can a national company operating not-for-profit hospitals and nursing homes sell off facilities without any obligation to the communities these institutions once served? That question is at the heart of a major legal battle between Phoenix-based Banner Health System and the attorneys general of New Mexico, North Dakota and South Dakota. At stake are millions of dollars in charitable health assets that will be lost by these communities if Banner is allowed to take the money and run.

Banner's history in each of these states has been brief. Banner was created as the result of a 1999 merger of Fargo, N.D.-based Lutheran Health Systems and Phoenix-based Samaritan Health System. Two years later, Banner announced it was selling 10 of...

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