Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health has completed its acquisition of UCI Medical Affiliates from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of South Carolina.

Oakland, Calif.-based Alameda Health System will assume governance of St. Rose Hospital in Hayward, Calif., amid financial pressures.

Watsonville (Calif.) Community Hospital's property has been returned to the Pajaro Valley Health Care District.

Christus Health Ark-La-Tex, part of Irving, Texas-based Christus Health, has completed its purchase of Dallas-based Steward Health Care's Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, according to a Nov. 1 news release shared with Becker's. 

Via Christi Hospital in Manhattan (Kan.) acquired K+Stat Urgent Care's assets, effective Nov. 1, according to an Oct. 31 news release shared with Becker's.

The University of Alabama at Birmingham Health System Authority has acquired Ascension St. Vincent's Health System, effective Nov. 1. 

Harbor Beach (Mich.) Community Hospital is planning to merge with Pigeon, Mich.-based Scheurer Health. 

Dallas-based Steward Health Care has closed the sale of its physician group, Stewardship Health, to Nashville, Tenn.-based Rural Healthcare Group, a primary care provider organization and part of Kinderhook Industries.

Plans for Jersey City, N.J.-based CarePoint Health and Hudson Regional Hospital in Secaucus, N.J., to affiliate under management services organization Hudson Health System have moved forward.

Multiple healthcare providers have come forward to express interest in Thomasville (Ala.) Regional Medical Center, which suspended operations in late September due to financial challenges and staff shortages.

Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare has sold 14 hospitals this year for more than $4.8 billion combined as it continues to transform its portfolio into a more value-based care enterprise with a leading specialty care platform. 

CHA Partners’s plan to acquire Upland, Pa.-based Crozer Health from Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings has collapsed, NPR affiliate WHYY reported Oct. 28.

As financial pressures mount and competition intensifies, hospitals and health systems are increasingly pursuing mergers and acquisitions to diversify their portfolios, strengthen bargaining power and pursue economies of scale. 

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez approved the sale of seven Dallas-based Steward Health Care hospitals to Healthcare Systems of America, an affiliate of Glendale, Calif.-based American Healthcare Systems during an Oct. 25 court hearing.

During an Oct. 24 third quarter earnings call, Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems CFO Kevin Hammons reiterated the health system's commitment to selling $1 billion in hospital assets.

Connecticut has told Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings that it wants monitors on board at its three state hospitals amid ongoing disputes with Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health over a $435 million stalled deal for the facilities.

Orlando (Fla.) Health has completed the purchase of three Steward Health Care hospitals and related physician practices in Florida.

Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health and Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System have signed an affiliation to combine.

U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez has approved Santa Fe Springs, Calif.-based College Health Enterprises, a healthcare management company, as interim manager for Phoenix-based St. Luke's Behavioral Health Center in an Oct. 22 hearing. 

Norton Travis, a healthcare attorney with more than 40 years of experience, joined Rivkin Radler, a New York City-based healthcare law firm, as counsel in the firm's Health Services Practice Group.