Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Project was approved by a bankruptcy judge to purchase Watsonville Community (Calif.) Hospital, KSBW reported Feb. 23.

Four deals between health systems have been recently announced or completed in the last few weeks.

StoneBridge Healthcare, a financial turnaround company, submitted a bid to purchase Providence, R.I.-based Care New England Health System. 

UnitedHealth Group plans to close its acquisition of Change Healthcare on Feb. 27, meaning the Justice Department now has less than one week to intervene to block the deal, according to a Feb. 17 Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

Pajaro Valley Healthcare District Project has won its bid to buy Watsonville (Calif.) Community Hospital after no other qualified bids were submitted by the deadline, The Pajaronian reported Feb. 21.

Consumer advocates and public health analysts are speaking out against the Yale New Haven (Conn.) deal to buy two Connecticut health systems from Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings, NPR affiliate Connecticut Public Radio reported Feb. 20.

Six deals involving health systems and hospitals have been announced, finalized or called off in the last two weeks:

Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems has divested 30 hospitals since 2019. Those hospitals, spread across 12 states, had 4,815 beds, according to a Feb. 17 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commision. 

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha has denied the application for the proposed merger between Lifespan and Care New England and said he will join the Federal Trade Commission in filing a lawsuit challenging the deal, The Boston Globe reported Feb. 17.

South Kingstown, R.I.-based South County Health is opposing the proposed merger between Lifespan and Care New England, both based in Providence, R.I., The Public's Radio reported Feb. 15.

As private equity firms increasingly buy hospitals, several have used Birmingham, Ala.-based Medical Properties Trust for help.

A Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas judge ordered Tower Health to restart the sale process of two now-shuttered hospitals to a Texas turnaround firm, The Daily Local reported Feb. 14.

Northwestern Memorial HealthCare purchased the Hyatt Centric Hotel in Chicago in February to give patients and families an option to stay overnight when receiving care, a health system spokesperson told Becker's Feb. 14.

Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings has inked deals to sell its seven hospitals in Connecticut and Pennsylvania. 

Dallas, Texas-based Signify Health, a value-based healthcare platform, agreed to acquire Kansas City, Mo.-based Caravan Health for $250 million.

Wilmington, Del.-based ChristianaCare plans to acquire Springfield, Pa.-based Crozer Health from Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings after signing a letter of intent.

Fresno, Calif.-based Saint Agnes Medical Center and Madera (Calif.) Community Hospital have signed a nonbinding letter of intent to explore a potential affiliation, the Fresno Bee reported Feb. 9.

Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System agreed Feb. 10 to acquire two Connecticut health systems from Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings. 

Courts and the Federal Trade Commission should consider more than harm to competition when evaluating healthcare mergers; they should also consider the benefit to underserved communities, Phil Goldberg and Kateland Jackson of Shook, Hardy & Bacon wrote in a Bloomberg Law op-ed Feb. 9.

Iron Mountain, Mich.-based Dickinson County Healthcare — a one-hospital system with several clinics — has finalized its affiliation agreement with Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System.