There were 5 mergers and acquisitions completed Aug. 1 that affected 40 hospitals, including one deal that created one of the largest nonprofit systems in the U.S.
1. Philadelphia-based Jefferson and Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network completed their merger. Officials to create one of the 15 largest nonprofit health systems in the U.S. with 32 hospitals, more than 700 sites of care and 65,000 employees.
Jefferson brings 18 hospitals to the combined system, with 15 from Pennsylvania and three from New Jersey. LVHN brings 14 Pennsylvania hospitals.
Jefferson CEO Joseph Cacchione, MD, who will serve as chief effective of the merged enterprise, said LVHN will undergo some type of rebranding, but final decisions have not been made. He said the Lehigh name "will be preserved and will not go away. The Lehigh Valley name has a lot of brand equity, it’s a very important brand — one of the reasons for our whole plan."
2. Midland-based MyMichigan Health completed its acquisition of St. Louis-based Ascension's Michigan locations in Standish, Tawas and Saginaw.
The acquisition includes Saginaw-based Ascension St. Mary's, Saginaw-based Ascension St. Mary's Towne Center, Standish-based Ascension St. Mary's, Tawas City-based Ascension St. Joseph, and the related Ascension Medical Group care sites and physician practices
3. San Francisco-based UCSF Health completed its acquisition of two hospitals from San Francisco-based Dignity Health in a $100 million deal.
Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center, both located in San Francisco, bring a total of 1,800 employees and providers onto the UCSF Health team. UCSF plans to invest $100 million to support the integration of the two hospitals over the next two years.
4. Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems completed its sale of Tennova Healthcare-Cleveland (Tenn.) to Vitruvian Health in Dalton, Ga., for $160 million.
CHS has been eying $1 billion in divestitures with plans to use proceeds from those deals for targeted investments in core markets, funding potential future acquisitions and increased flexibility in debt management.
5. Dartmouth Health in Lebanon, N.H., is integrating Valley Regional Hospital into its network.
The health system previously collaborated with 25-bed Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont, N.H., for many services, including cardiology, oncology, pathology and radiology. The hospital will now formally integrate into Dartmouth Health to share in its technology, clinical research and network of more than 2,000 physicians and providers.