The Reading Hospital and Medical Center will acquire the Surgical Institute of Reading with the institute becoming a subsidiary of the hospital organization.

The Surgical Institute is one of nine physician-owned hospitals in Pennsylvania. Such hospitals have faced hurdles under the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits the new construction of physician-owned hospitals and severely limits the expansion of existing physician-owned hospital facilities. Section 6001 of the act halted the institute's plans to expand earlier this year.

The transaction is expected to be completed this summer following review by the Pennsylvania Department of Health and the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

The acquisition will expand the hospital's clinical capacity in important surgical specialties, including orthopedics, spine surgery, and gynecology. 

Under terms of the agreement, the Surgical Institute of Reading will continue to function as a Joint Commission-accredited acute care hospital and surgical center with 15 licensed beds for overnight patient stays. 

The Surgical Institute's 125-member nursing and support staff will become employees of the medical center. The Institute's 27 physicians will remain independent practitioners on The Reading Hospital and Medical Center's medical staff.

The Surgical Institute of Reading opened at its current Spring Township site in 2007, and was designed to provide high quality, individualized care to surgical patients. In 2011, volume exceeded 5,000 open, endoscopic, and other minimally invasive procedures performed by otolaryngologists, general surgeons, neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, and pain management specialists.