In the News

Valley Baptist Health System Announces Investment in Harlingen Medical Center

HARLINGEN, Jan. 9, 2006  – Valley Baptist Health System announced that it has made a strategic financial investment of $20 million in Harlingen Medical Center (HMC), in a move designed to better serve the health care needs of the citizens of the Rio Grande Valley. The investment takes the form of 2 loans of $10 million each, earning competitive interest rates and with features offering future conversions into equity.

“We are pleased about our strategic investment in Harlingen Medical Center and adding that fine organization to our provider network,” said James G. Springfield, President & Chief Executive Officer for Valley Baptist Health System in Harlingen, Texas. “I firmly believe the opportunity for us to work more closely with Harlingen Medical Center, MedCath, and particularly the local physician investors, will prove invaluable to the citizens of South Texas as Valley Baptist continues to be a leader in the healthcare community.”

Additionally, Valley Baptist Health System will sell certain services to Harlingen Medical Center, as they do for other selected hospitals in the Valley. It is anticipated that HMC employees will be part of Valley Health Plan and the hospital will be in the Valley Health Plan provider network.

“We are delighted to have this relationship with a not-for-profit healthcare network that has been serving the Rio Grande Valley so well for 80 years,” said John Casey, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MedCath Corporation, the majority owner of HMC. “We are hopeful that this is the beginning of a relationship with Valley Baptist that will allow us to work together to meet the healthcare needs of the community.”

Valley Baptist Heath System, one of the largest and most respected integrated healthcare systems in South Texas with 850 licensed beds, has hospitals in Harlingen and Brownsville, and has been serving the Rio Grande Valley Community with distinction since 1925.