Wanta Buy a Hospital? A Houston Hospital Is Up For Auction

Houston's oldest hospital -- the historic St. Joseph Hospital and Medical Center -- will be put up for auction next month.  This comes five years after its Catholic owners sold their majority interest to a profit based company in North Carolina.

Hospital Partners of America invested heavily in the downtown hospital but declared bankruptcy 2½ years ago and will auction off the hospital as part of its Chapter 7 process.  Otherwise, the hospital in the heart of downtown Houston is financially healthy.

The purchase price will be based upon an "enterprise value" of $165 million.

In a prepared statement, Chief Executive Officer Patrick Mathews said "St. Joseph has been caring for the people of Houston for nearly 125 years, and there are no plans for that to change."

via St. Joseph to be put up for auction | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle.

St. Joseph was founded in 1887 by the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, a Catholic order tasked with providing "Christ-centered, compassionate health care.  It's often referred to as "Houston's birthplace" because there was a time when one of every three Houstonians was born there.