Publicly traded for-profit health systems have sold dozens of hospitals in 2024 and academic health systems are among those acquiring the facilities.
Most recently, Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems signed a definitive agreement to sell Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville, N.C., to Duke University Health System. Durham, N.C.-based Duke plans to acquire the 123-bed hospital and its related assets for about $280 million in a deal that is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025. The acquisition represents a significant expansion of Duke's clinical services outside the greater Triangle area.
"We recognize the healthcare landscape is changing," Duke CEO Craig Albanese, MD, said Dec. 11. "While we continue to expand access to care within the communities we serve, it's also time to do more and deliver care to more people — in more communities. We want to bring access to all that Duke Health has to offer to the Lake Norman community."
In March, Dallas-based Tenet completed the $975 million sale of four Southern California hospitals to Orange, Calif.-based UCI Health. Fountain Valley Regional Hospital, Lakewood Regional Medical Center, Los Alamitos Medical Center and Placentia-Linda Hospital are the hospitals that moved to UCI Health in the transaction.
"These four hospitals are well-regarded in their communities for providing high-quality, compassionate care," Tenet chairman and CEO Saum Sutaria, MD, said when the deal was first announced in February. "The local communities will benefit from the nationally recognized advancements, medical knowledge, research, and community focus that UCI Health brings as an innovative academic health system."
Also in March, Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare completed the sale of Los Angeles-based West Hills Hospital and Medical Center to Los Angeles-based UCLA Health. As part of the transaction, the 260-bed hospital was renamed UCLA West Valley Medical Center.
UCLA Health's acquisition of the hospital aims to address the system's patient, emergency department and operating room capacity constraints, a UCLA Health spokesperson told Becker's when the deal was first announced in January.