Sanford Health is diving into the Rapid City health market in a big way, buying a luxury physician-owned hospital that has some of the highest quality-of-care metrics in the country. The move to acquire Black Hills Surgical Hospital will also come with its biggest asset — its doctors, who currently own 46 percent of the hospital, Sanford President and CEO Bill Gassen confirmed in an interview with The Dakota Scout. Gassen praised them for their skill in medicine and for being talented business people who have built a “wonderful” business model.
ADVERTISEMENT “The ability to be able to partner with them is really what makes this so attractive and makes them the partner we want to be doing this with,” Gassen said. “If this were just acquiring an asset out there, we wouldn’t be interested in that.” The other 54 percent of the hospital is owned by Medical Facilities Corp.
— a company based in Canada that has ownership interests in three other U.S. specialty hospitals, including the Sioux Falls Specialty Hospital, where it is a 51 percent owner.
Sanford is also buying out MFC’s share in the Black Hills facility. Gassen said the expansion makes sense for Sanford, which is headquartered in South Dakota. Gassen, who grew up in Rapid City, noted that Sanford already had a presence in the Black Hills.
Sanford doctors have performed outreach there for three decades and now provide lab services and elderly care through its Good Samaritan Society long-term care facilit.
