Merger and acquisition activity is rebounding after a drop in deal volume during the pandemic, with many large health systems growing their hospital portfolios or planning to add more hospitals in the coming quarters.
Seventeen health systems growing bigger:
Editor's note: This is not an exhaustive list.
1. Orlando (Fla.) Health on Oct. 1 acquired Tenet's 70% majority ownership interest in Birmingham, Ala.-based Brookwood Baptist Health for about $910 million in cash. The transaction includes five hospitals:
- Brookwood Baptist Medical Center (Birmingham)
- Princeton Baptist Medical Center (Birmingham)
- Walker Baptist Medical Center (Jasper, Ala.)
- Shelby Baptist Medical Center (Alabaster, Ala.)
- Citizens Baptist Medical Center (Talladega, Ala.)
The health system also completed the purchase of three Steward Health Care hospitals and related physician practices in Florida. The $439 million deal includes Rockledge (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, Melbourne (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, Sebastian (Fla.) River Medical Center and some of Steward Medical Group's practices.
2. Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Ascension to acquire nine of its hospitals in Illinois. They include:
- Ascension Holy Family (Des Plaines)
- Ascension Mercy (Aurora)
- Ascension Resurrection (Chicago)
- Ascension Saint Elizabeth (Chicago)
- Ascension Saint Francis (Evanston)
- Ascension Saint Joseph – Elgin
- Ascension Saint Joseph – Joliet
- Ascension Saint Mary – Chicago
- Ascension Saint Mary – Kankakee
Financial terms of the proposed deal have not been disclosed.
3. Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health spent $2.4 billion to acquire three hospitals from Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare in February. They include:
- East Cooper Medical Center (Mount Pleasant, S.C.)
- Hilton Head (S.C.) Hospital
- Coastal Carolina Hospital (Hardeeville, S.C.)
Novant, now a 19-hospital system, called off its plan to acquire two more North Carolina hospitals from Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems in June, but is open to acquiring other hospitals if the opportunities make sense.
4. Nashville Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare is pursuing a deal to acquire Catholic Medical Center, a 330-bed regional system in Manchester, N.H. HCA, a 186-hospital system, currently operates three hospitals in New Hampshire: Parkland Medical Center in Derry, Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester.
5. Orange, Calif.-based UCI Health acquired four hospitals for $975 million from Tenet Healthcare's Pacific Coast Network in March. They include:
- Fountain Valley Regional Hospital
- Lakewood Regional Medical Center
- Los Alamitos Medical Center
- Placentia-Linda Hospital
The acquisition adds 858 inpatient beds to UCI Health.
5. Washington (Pa.) Health, a two-hospital system, joined Pittsburgh-based UPMC in June. As part of the affiliation, UPMC will invest at least $300 million over a decade to improve clinical services at the two hospitals, which have been rebranded as UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene hospitals.
7. Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health spent about $550 million to acquire two hospitals from Tenet in March: Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo and Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, Calif. The hospitals have been rebranded as Adventist Health Sierra Vista and Adventist Health Twin Cities.
8. Risant Health, a nonprofit formed under Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, acquired Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger in April. Risant plans to acquire about four other health systems and signed a definitive agreement in June to acquire Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health.
9. St. Louis-based Mercy on Sept. 1 acquired Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg, Kan. Mercy, a 45-hospital system, now has three hospitals in Kansas: Mercy Hospital Pittsburg, Mercy Hospital Columbus and Mercy Specialty Hospital-Southeast Kansas in Galena. It also operates two primary care clinics in Pittsburg.
10. UCSF Health acquired two hospitals — San Francisco-based Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center — from Dignity Health in August. As part of the $100 million acquisition, the hospitals shed their religious affiliation and are now known as UCSF Health Saint Francis and UCSF Health St. Mary's. UCSF will invest $100 million to support the integration of the hospitals over the next two years.
11. Morrow County Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Mount Gilead, Ohio, plans to join Columbus-based OhioHealth, becoming the health system's 16th hospital. In the past 19 months, OhioHealth has acquired two other hospitals — Van Wert (Ohio) Hospital and Southeastern Medical Center in Cambridge — and opened Pickerington Methodist Hospital.
12. Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System has signed a definitive agreement to acquire New Brunswick, N.J.-based Saint Peter's Healthcare System. Under the proposed transaction, Atlantic Health will take Saint Peter's under its wing to become its single corporate member. Saint Peter's Catholic mission and identity would be maintained under the deal.
13. The University of Alabama System aims to acquire Ascension St. Vincent's Health System, which includes five hospitals, for $450 million. Birmingham-based UAB Health expects the transaction to close in the fall, pending approval from federal regulators and the Catholic Church.
14. MyMichigan Health acquired three Michigan hospitals and their related assets from St. Louis-based Ascension in August. Midland-based MyMichigan also acquired the Ascension Medical Group care sites and physician practices associated with the hospitals, which include:
- Ascension St. Mary's (Saginaw)
- Ascension St. Mary's (Standish)
- Ascension St. Joseph (Tawas City)
"This is not just about getting bigger, it’s about getting better," MyMichigan President and CEO Lydia Watson, MD, said. "Through the addition of these locations, we are building on the legacy Ascension has already established and our focus is to strengthen access to care and services for these communities."
15. Irving, Texas-based Christus Health, which comprises more than 60 hospitals, is taking over the Medical Center of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, Texas, and plans to reopen the facility "in the coming months." Steward Health closed the hospital in February because it was "severely underutilized given the needs in the region," spokesperson for the health system told Becker's. Christus also plans to take over Steward's Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, for about $4.5 million.
16. Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare has acquired Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital, an 80-bed facility in Dixon, Ill. OSF now includes 17 hospitals — 11 acute care, five critical access, and one transitional care — with 2,131 licensed beds throughout Illinois and Michigan.
17. Scottsdale, Ariz.-based HonorHealth in October completed the acquisition of three Steward hospitals in Arizona. The transaction added 1,200 new team members to HonorHealth. The hospitals are:
- Florence Hospital
- Mountain Vista Medical Center (Mesa)
- Tempe St. Luke's Hospital