CHAN HEALTHCARE, a joint partnership of Ascension and Catholic Health Initiatives, and public accounting and consulting firm, Crowe Horwath, signed a letter of intent last week to combine resources and strengthen existing services to meet the internal audit and advisory needs of the changing healthcare industry.

Crowe's existing healthcare services include opinion audits, tax, IT security, regulatory, revenue cycle and physician integration. Headquartered in Chicago, Crowe employs approximately 2,700 people.

Formed in 1997, CHAN HEALTHCARE is the only U.S. company focused primarily on providing internal audit services to healthcare. Based in Clayton, Mo., CHAN HEALTHCARE employs approximately 320 staff nationwide. It maintains a permanent on-site presence in more than 20 tax-exempt healthcare networks across the nation and operates in more than 350 hospitals and healthcare facilities.

As part of the transaction, CHAN HEALTHCARE intends to retain its existing executive management team and key executives. The transaction is scheduled to close this fall, pending completion of due diligence and signing of a definitive agreement. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.