Capital Medical Center in Olympia to be acquired by Tacoma-based MultiCare Health System
MultiCare Health System of Tacoma will boost its presence in Thurston County after the health care organization announced that it will acquire an “ownership interest” in Capital Medical Center in west Olympia.
The ownership interest appears significant because the west Olympia hospital will be renamed MultiCare Capital Medical Center.
The acquisition was made possible after MultiCare reached an agreement with an affiliate of LifePoint Health, the organization announced in a news release last week. Tennessee-based LifePoint Health is the current operator of the 107-bed hospital.
The transaction is subject to regulatory notices and customary closing conditions, according to MultiCare.
“Capital Medical Center is an important part of the Thurston County community, and we are looking forward to working with the employees and providers in the area to improve the health of the South Sound region,” said Bill Robertson, president and chief executive of MultiCare Health System, in a statement.
The news release said there should be no disruptions to care during the ownership interest transition.
The hospital will become part of the MultiCare network that includes nine hospitals, one children’s hospital, and a network of primary, specialty and urgent care clinics, including the Indigo clinics that opened in Thurston County in 2016. MultiCare says it already operates 18 clinics in the county.
The transition to MultiCare also should raise the profile of Capital Medical Center, which is often overshadowed by Providence St. Peter Hospital, also in Olympia and part of Providence Health & Services, a non-profit, Renton-based Catholic health care system operating 51 hospitals across eight states in the West.
Providence Health & Services has since merged with St. Joseph Health to become Providence St. Joseph Health.
Capital Medical has had a series of Tennessee-based operators. The hospital, which first opened in 1985, was later operated by a group called Capella Healthcare of Franklin, Tenn. Capella later merged with Regional Health to become RCCH Healthcare Partners, then RCCH merged with LifePoint Health.
This story was originally published January 1, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
