DeKALB – The size of the KishHealth System’s physician group branch tripled Sunday as the health system’s purchase of the DeKalb Clinic became official.

Leaders from both healthcare facilities said the transition should be seamless for the clinic’s 180,000 patients. Joseph Dant, the vice president of business development for KishHealth System, credited the smooth changeover to the work done long before the ink dried on the sale.

“There’s been a lot of hard work on both sides of the street – literally the street – to get ready for this weekend,” Dant said. “So we are excited. We know it’s the right thing for the patients and the community. We know it’s the right thing for the two organizations long-term.”

The ownership transition kicked into high gear Friday afternoon as staff prepared to change signs and some computer programs. The DeKalb Clinic sign on the front of the building at 1850 Gateway Drive in Sycamore came down Saturday to make room for the KishHealth System sign.

For Dr. Roger Haab, the chairman of the DeKalb Clinic, the weekend will take him from a businessman and return him to his roots as a doctor.

“My responsibilities now are much less,” Haab said. “I can now be a physician.”

Haab will be among 25 providers from the clinic that will bolster KishHealth System Physician Group’s current 12-provider roster. Including the providers, the number of employees in the physician group will go from about 50 to close to 200, Dant said.

All of DeKalb Clinic’s providers and employees will remain employed, except Dr. Amanda Friedrichs, a dermitologist, and Dr. Martin Gryfinski, a neurologist, who both decided to leave, Haab said. That will stay the same for at least the next three months as leaders evaluate the needs that emerge after the official transition.

Haab will relinquish his role as the chairman as the DeKalb Clinic Board, which dissolved as a result of the purchase. In turn, the KishHealth System Physician Group Board will expand from six to 12 members, with four of the board members coming from the DeKalb branch, Dant said.

They were uncertain about how the cost of services would change for patients, but Dant said he expected prices to be comparable.

Officials would not disclose the financial details of the purchase, but it did not require approval from the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. State law requires board approval of health care acquisition deals of $12 million or more.

“This is the second-biggest transaction in the history of the health system,” Dant said. “Second only to building of the new hospital.”

Haab said KishHealth System will acquire all of the clinic’s assets, including the $16 million building built in 2009. He would not disclose how the DeKalb Clinic acquisition will affect KishHealth System’s financial standing.

KishHealth System includes more than 15 facilities, mostly in DeKalb County, including Kishwaukee Hospital in DeKalb and Valley West Hospital in Sandwich.

Officials said the idea for the acquisition first surfaced in 2010 because of changes in the healthcare industry that have cut down the number of patients doctors can see while reimbursements from Medicaid and Medicare have dwindled. Dr. Michael Kulisz, KishHealth System’s chief medical officer, said the move also reflects the changing role of hospitals.

“It’s with the transformation of healthcare that’s occurring and us having to keep everybody healthy and actually breaking outside of the four walls of the hospital and the office setting,” Kulisz said.

Officials announced the prospective purchase in October after officials signed a nonbinding letter of intent. Dant said the deal has been in the works since 2013.