From Prime Healthcare signing a deal to acquire nine hospitals from Ascension to Kaiser's Risant Health making a deal to acquire a second system, here are 10 health system mergers and acquisitions to know that have been announced or completed in 2024.
Note: This is not a comprehensive list.
The following deals are listed in reverse-chronological order:
1. Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare on Aug. 5 agreed to sell its 70% majority ownership interest in Birmingham, Ala.-based Brookwood Baptist Health to Orlando (Fla.) Health. The proposed deal, valued at approximately $910 million in cash, includes five hospitals, with a total of more than 1,700 beds, as well as affiliated physician practices and other related operations. The deal is expected to close in the fall.
2. Philadelphia-based Jefferson and Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network completed their merger Aug. 1. The combination creates one of the 15 largest nonprofit health systems in the U.S. with 32 hospitals and more than 700 sites of care.
3. Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems signed a definitive agreement on July 30 to sell its three Pennsylvania hospitals to affiliates of WoodBridge Healthcare, a nonprofit organization led by healthcare veteran Joshua Nemzoff. The $120 million deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024. CHS said in February it is eyeing $1 billion in potential hospital sales.
4. Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare entered into an asset purchase agreement on July 25 with Ascension to acquire nine Illinois hospitals from St. Louis-based Ascension. The sale is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025.
5. Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health and Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System on July 10 signed a nonbinding agreement to merge into a 56-hospital system with more than 56,000 employees, including 4,300 providers. The transaction is expected to close by the end of the year, subject to regulatory processes and closing approvals.
6. Catholic Medical Center, a 330-bed regional health system in Manchester, N.H., on July 1 entered into an asset purchase agreement with a subsidiary of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare. The health systems are prepared for the regulatory process to proceed "over the coming months," and did not specify a tentative date for finalizing the deal.
7. Risant Health, a nonprofit formed under Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, signed a definitive agreement on June 24 to acquire Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health. If the transaction closes, Cone Health will operate independently as a regional and community-based health system under Risant, which supports organizations with technology and services to improve outcomes and lower care costs across diverse business models.
8. Risant Health completed its acquisition of Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Health on March 31. Kaiser shared plans to acquire Geisinger in April 2023 in an effort to launch Risant Health with its first health system.
9. Orange, Calif.-based UCI Health completed its acquisition of Tenet Healthcare's Pacific Coast Network, which includes four hospitals in Southern California on March 27 in a $975 million deal.
10. New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health and Danbury, Conn.-based Nuvance Health on Feb. 28 entered into a strategic agreement to combine systems, expanding their reach with 28 hospitals across New York and Connecticut. Northwell CEO Michael Dowling said he is hopeful regulatory approval will be completed by the end of the year.