Here is a summary of hospital and healthcare merger and acquisition-related transactions from October:
1. Mobile, Ala.-based University of South Alabama said Oct.1 that Ascension Providence Hospital and its clinics are now part of USA Health, the university's academic health system. The Mobile-based 349-bed hospital will be renamed USA Health Providence Hospital. The news comes six months after USA Health confirmed that it would be purchasing the hospital for $85 million.
2. Three Ohio facilities, including two hospitals, operated by Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers are officially part of Fort Wayne, Ind.-based Parkview Health as of Oct. 2.
Bryan, Ohio-based CHWC, with two hospitals in Bryan and Montpelier, will be gradually integrated into the Parkview Health system over the next one to two years, Parkview said in a video and press release. The third facility is an outpatient location in Archbold, Ohio.
3. Mullica Hill, N.J.-based Inspira Health completed the integration Oct. 2 of Salem, N.J.-based Salem Medical Center, which has been rebranded as Inspira Medical Center Mannington.
Services at IMC Mannington include bariatric, behavioral and mental health, cardiology, emergency, gastroenterology, orthopedics, surgical services, urology and wound care.
4. Milwaukee-based Froedtert Health struck a deal Oct. 3 to acquire Ascension Wisconsion's stake in Network Health, the health insurer jointly owned by the systems.
Each currently owns a 50 percent interest in the insurer, which offers commercial and Medicare plans for employers, individuals and families in 23 Wisconsin counties.
5. West Virginia is now home to a larger academic health system through the combination of Huntington-based Mountain Health Network, Marshall Health and Marshall University, which was finalized Oct. 5.
The new system, named Marshall Health Network, consists of physician practices and facilities as well as four hospitals: 303-bed Cabell Huntington Hospital, a 72-bed pediatric hospital within Cabell Huntington, 393-bed St. Mary's Medical Center and 101-bed Rivers Health. Cabell Huntington is a teaching hospital for Marshall University Schools of Medicine, Pharmacy and Nursing; St. Mary's operates St. Mary's Schools of Nursing, Respiratory Care and Medical Imaging.
6. Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare is selling its 302-bed Alvarado Hospital Medical Center to UC San Diego Health for $200 million.
The systems are working to close the deal in December, according to a news release shared with Becker's.
7. Ithaca, N.Y.-based Cayuga Health System and Arnot Health are seeking regulatory approval from the state to affiliate as members of a parent company which would comprise five hospitals.
Elmira, N.Y.-based Arnot Health has three hospitals, is affiliated with more than 300 physicians and operates more than 40 medical offices, according to its website. Cayuga includes two hospitals, a multispecialty medical group and has more than 2,200 employees across the health system.
8. Yale New Haven (Conn.) Health System has acquired PhysicianOne Urgent Care, which operates 26 urgent care facilities across Massachusetts, New York and Connecticut, according to its website.
For the past six years, Yale New Haven has had a clinical affiliation with PhysicianOne that helped provide its patients with access to high-quality primary care providers and specialists in the area, according to the health system, which said fully integrating the urgent care provider is a "natural next step" in its commitment to expanding access to high quality care across the region.
9. El Segundo, Calif.-based Pipeline Health is now a four-hospital system — all of which are in the Los Angeles area — after it completed the sale of White Rock Medical Center in Dallas to Houston-based Heights Healthcare of Texas.
10. Little Rock, Ark.-based Baptist Health has reached a definitive agreement to add Monticello, Ark.-based Drew Memorial Health System to its enterprise.
Baptist Health will immediately begin managing Drew Memorial's general options as the acquisition awaits regulatory approval, according to an Oct. 6 news release. The larger system plans to officially incorporate the smaller one in December and will rename its 60-bed hospital "Baptist Health Medical Center-Drew County.
11. Morgantown, W.Va.-based Monongalia Health System is one step closer to completely absorbing Davis Health System after the two parties signed a definitive agreement to merge Oct. 11 following regulatory and other approvals.
Elkins, W.Va.-based Davis Health is a three-hospital system. MHS is a subsidiary of Charleston, W.Va-based Vandalia Health, a nine-hospital system. The transaction is expected to close Dec. 31, according to a Vandalia notice filed Oct. 11.
12. Christus Health has bought the 50% of Santa Fe, N.M.-based St. Vincent Regional Medical Center it didn't already own.
Previously, Irving, Texas-based Christus owned the hospital system in a joint venture with nonprofit Anchorum St. Vincent. The move is in return for investments in the hospital system to tackle health disparities.
13. Duluth, Minn.-based St. Luke's and Wausau, Wis.-based Aspirus Health signed a definitive agreement to form a 19-hospital system with more than 130 outpatient locations and 14,000 employees.
The proposed transaction aims to increase access to rural healthcare and advance care quality across northeastern Minnesota, northern and central Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
14. Henry Ford Health and Ascension Michigan are entering a joint venture, in which Henry Ford would essentially fold Ascension's sites of care in the southeastern region of the state under its brand.
Detroit-based Henry Ford and Ascension Michigan are submitting the agreement to state and federal regulatory agencies for review with aim for the transaction to close by summer 2024.
15. Two faith-based health systems, Memphis, Tenn.-based Baptist Memorial Health Care and Meridian, Miss.-based Anderson Regional Health System, plan to merge into a 24-hospital system in January.
16. Salem (Ore.) Health has acquired Hope Orthopedics, a Salem-based group, effective Sept. 29, and hired most of its physicians and employees, according to the Salem Reporter.
17. Liberty (Mo.) Hospital's board on Oct. 19 voted to pursue a partnership with the University of Kansas Health System in Kansas City.
Through the partnership, Liberty Hospital will have the opportunity to expand services and improve the patient experience with greater access to treatments and specialists. U of Kansas Health will be able to benefit by growing its presence in the Northland area and northwest Missouri.
18. Pittsburgh-based UPMC said it has entered into an integration and affiliation agreement with Washington (Pa.) Health System, according to an Oct. 23 filing.
The two signed a letter of intent in June regarding the partnership. Unions have criticized the move, saying it would harm both patients and workers.
19. Kittanning, Pa.-based Armstrong County Memorial Hospital is weighing whether to become part of DuBois-based Pennsylvania Mountains Care Alliance, a collaborative of independent community hospitals, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported Oct. 26.
The hospital said the aim of the potential affiliation is to leverage economies of scale for purchasing supplies — such as medical scanners — and attracting physicians and nurses, according to the report.
20. Having originally failed in its bid to buy Mercy Iowa City hospital, the University of Iowa Health system is now set to take over the bankrupt facility.
The news comes after days of dispute between the hospital and the original winning bidder, Preston Hollow Community Capital, over how future operating losses would be handled. In a rebidding process Oct. 27, Iowa City-based University of Iowa Health was deemed to have the highest or best bid, according to a news release shared with Becker's.