“The first 24 hours could not have gone better,” University of South Alabama president Jo Bonner said Monday, as USA officials celebrated USA Health’s takeover of Mobile’s Providence Hospital.

Signs of the transition were popping up around the Providence campus in west Mobile on Monday, as temporary signage was installed. That was made possible by the fact that on Sunday, USA Health and St. Louis-based Ascension sealed the final terms of USA’s acquisition of Providence from Ascension, a process under way for months.

The $85 million purchase had been announced in April after years of speculation about Providence’s future and – according to Dr. John Marymont, vice-president for medical affairs and dean of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine at the University of South Alabama – years of discussion about a possible partnership between USA Health and Ascension.

“Ascension reached out to us last year and said they were exiting the Mobile market,” said Bonner. “They gave us the first opportunity to negotiate.” Bonner also said that with USA Health taking over the 349-bed facility, “local decisions are going to be made by local leaders here.”

Providence was founded in the 1850s by the Daughters of Charity, an order of Catholic nuns. In the late 1980s Providence relocated from a Midtown facility on Spring Hill Avenue to the distinctively modernistic structure on Airport Boulevard that it has occupied ever since.

Providence became a part of the Ascension system in 1999; in 2017, it and the Birmingham-based St. Vincent’s Health System changed their names to Ascension St. Vincent’s and Ascension Providence. At the time, Ascension described itself as the largest chain of Catholic hospitals in the world. Its willingness to sell in 2022 was driven in part by soaring costs and a reported $1.8 billion loss.

USA Health CEO Owen Bailey said Monday that Providence was “a perfect fit” for USA Health. “It’s very complimentary to what we’ve been doing,” he said.

USA Health operates University Hospital and Children’s and Women’s Hospital, in addition to numerous other clinics and facilities in the Mobile region. Bailey said that in the last six years, the system has grown from about seven locations to about 30. The Providence deal adds a third hospital, to be known as USA Health Providence Hospital, plus eight clinics on the main campus and six family practice clinics, one of which is in Mississippi.

Bonner said there were no plans to downsize through consolidation. “No plans to close, we are in growth mode,” he said. “We needed the space and quite frankly Mobile needed to keep this hospital.”

Bonner said that during the transition, USA Health brought on board about 1,800 Providence employees, bringing USA and USA Health’s total employment to about 12,000. “We are the biggest employer in Mobile,” he said.

Marymont said the acquisition of the Catholic-founded hospital would allow USA to expand its “tripartite mission” of education, research and medical care.

USA is in the process of building a new medical school facility on its main campus, a project with a price tag Marymont has said will approach $200 million. He has said he intends to gradually increase the size of USA’s annual medical class from 80 new doctors to 100.

The Providence acquisition supports that growth and more, he said.

“We’ll be able to grow our medical school class, our nursing school class, our allied health class and give them new opportunities to train, and help the region with new physicians, nurses and allied health professionals,” Marymont said. “So it’s a great addition to the academic mission.”