Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health agreed to invest $50 million in Burgaw, N.C.-based Pender Medical Center and develop the facility into a community general hospital within the next five years.

Atlus Community Healthcare, a portfolio company of private equity firm ZT Corporate, acquired Exceptional Emergency Center, a system of 14 emergency rooms across Texas.

State regulators are set to consider Peoria, Ill.-based OSF Healthcare's application to purchase the shuttered St. Margaret's Health-Peru (Ill.) hospital Aug. 15, local news outlet WCBU reported June 1.

St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare and Kansas City, Mo.-based Saint Luke's Health System, two financially stable organizations with their own strong brands, intend to form an integrated academic health system by the year's end. 

The long-awaited incorporation of Exeter (N.H.) Health Resources into Cambridge, Mass.-based Beth Israel Lahey Health has taken a major step forward after the New Hampshire attorney general's office agreed to the transaction.

Doylestown (Pa.) Health took a step closer to selling its Pine Run retirement community, with a Dec. 30 deadline to complete the transaction, according to a June 13 filing.

Many health system mergers today are "all about leverage" when negotiating with payers, rather than significant cost savings or increasing market share, Charlie Shields, CEO of Kansas City, Mo.-based University Health, told the Kansas City Business Journal.

Merger and acquisition transactions can often lead to job cuts, but that is not anticipated to be the case with Sayre, Pa.-based Guthrie Clinic's acquisition of the Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital system based in Binghamton, N.Y.

Here is a summary of hospital and healthcare merger and acquisition-related transactions from May:

Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Parkview Health System is to acquire Bryan, Ohio-based Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers, according to a June 8 filing.

Columbia-based University of Missouri Health Care signed a letter of intent to acquire Jefferson City, Mo.-based Capital Region Medical Center.

Sayre, Pa.-based the Guthrie Clinic has agreed to acquire the Binghamton, N.Y.-based Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital system.

San Benito County leaders would like the bankrupt Hollister, Calif.-based Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital to start partnership discussions with neighboring Salinas (Calif.) Valley Health, but Hazel Hawkins said it is not ready, ABC and NBC affiliate KSBW reported June 7.

Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health has acquired the Bakersfield Heart Hospital for a nominal sum and is aiming to save 300 jobs there in doing so, according to a June 6 report from The Bakersfield Californian.

Inova Health System has acquired Annandale, Va.-based Northern Virginia Pulmonary and Critical Care Associates, which comprises nine physicians and two locations, according to the Washington Business Journal.

A number of states have attempted to pass laws recently to potentially curb what legislators say is inappropriate consolidation in the healthcare industry. Other states have pushed back on such legislation.

The Rhode Island Attorney General and state department of health have rejected an initial application requesting approval for the Centurion Foundation to purchase CharterCare Health Partners from Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings, a 16-hospital system.

Charleston, W.Va.-based Vandalia Health is looking to continue its growth in the state with a plan to incorporate Elkins, W.Va.-based Davis Health into its system.

A number of bills in the Pennsylvania Senate, including one designed to bar for-profit hospitals, are seeing the light of day after being previously shelved, according to a May 29 report from radio station WHYY.

New house legislation in the state is likely to "impact a large portion of healthcare-related transactions within Illinois going forward," Lexology reported May 30.