Port Huron — St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron hospital will be sold to a for-profit health system based in California, and the resulting transaction means the hospital will lose its 60-year-old Catholic affiliation.

The sale of St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron to Prime Healthcare Services based in Ontario, Calif., was made public Nov. 20 by St. Joseph Mercy Health System, which is part of Livonia-based Trinity Health.

Part of the reason for the sale was the distance between St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron and the other five hospitals under the St. Joseph Mercy Health System in southeast Michigan. Over the past several years, the health system had been developing a “highly integrated care delivery system in southeast Michigan,” said a news release announcing the sale, but St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron’s distance from its other hospitals and outpatient centers “challenged the ability of SJMHS to integrate operations,” such as sharing personnel and resources.

Financial terms of the sale were not immediately made public, but Prime Healthcare is expected to invest $20 million in capital improvements over a three-year period as part of the agreement, the statement said. Part of that investment could include a Tru Beam Linear Accelerator, a state-of-the-art radiotherapy and radiosurgery system designed to help treat certain kinds of cancer.

Garry C. Faja, regional president and CEO of St. Joseph Mercy Health System, expressed confidence the new owners would continue to provide quality care to the Blue Water Area community.

“Prime Healthcare has a successful track record of sustaining and advancing access to quality health care services among its acquired hospitals,” he said.

No job losses were expected as a result of the sale; approximately 788 people currently work at the hospital.

As part of the transition, St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron’s name will also change, although its new name has yet to be decided, a spokeswoman told The Michigan Catholic.

Despite the loss of Catholic status, Prime Healthcare will continue to ensure the hospital serves the community’s poor through a charity care policy “that is just as favorable as the current charity policy in effect,” the release said, including its cooperation with The People’s Clinic for Better Health. The hospital is also expected to retain some sort of Catholic spiritual care, such as a chaplaincy.

St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron was founded in 1954 by the Religious Sisters of Mercy. Today, the hospital has 164 beds and provides medical/surgical services, emergency care and several types of specialized care including cancer, cardiac, bariatric, stroke and rehabilitation services.

St. Joseph Mercy Health System also owns five other area hospitals, including 537-bed St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor, 443-bed St. Joseph Mercy Oakland in Pontiac, 304-bed St. Mary Mercy Livonia, 136-bed St. Joseph Mercy Livingston in Howell, and 113-bed St. Joseph Mercy Chelsea.

Prime Healthcare operates 29 hospitals in eight states.

The sale of St. Joseph Mercy Port Huron is expected to be final once regulatory and state approvals are met.