On the heels of successful financial reports from Chicago-based CommonSpirit and St. Louis-based Ascension, the two health systems are actively reworking their hospital portfolios through investing in multiple mergers and acquisitions to improve upon their financial performances.
Most recently, Ascension completed its sale of Binghamton, N.Y.-based Our Lady of Lourdes Memorial Hospital System to Sayre, Pa.-based the Guthrie Clinic.
The health system also shared plans in mid-February for St. Louis-based Mercy to acquire ownership of its Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg, Kan.
Last October, Ascension sold its Ascension Providence Hospital and its clinics to Mobile, Ala.-based University of South Alabama.
"We remain focused on improving hospital operations, ensuring sustainability for the future and making purposeful decisions that improve the health of individuals and the communities we are privileged to serve," Ascension CFO Liz Foshage said in the health system's second-quarter fiscal year 2024 financial report.
Much like Ascension, CommonSpirit is also continuously evaluating its operating markets to identify "market essentiality," which could result in additional hospital M&A.
"We remain focused on further improving our financial performance by exploring growth opportunities, sound investment strategy and cost containment," CommonSpirit CFO Dan Morissette said in the health system's fourth-quarter 2023 report.
In early February, San Francisco-based Dignity Health, part of CommonSpirit, signed a $100 million definitive agreement with San Francisco-based UCSF Health to offload two of its San Francisco-based hospitals: Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary's Medical Center.
Sale discussions between the two systems began last July. Under the new ownership, the hospitals will be renamed UCSF Health Saint Francis Hospital and UCSF Health St. Mary's Hospital.
CommonSpirit also acquired five of Dallas-based Steward Health Care Utah hospitals last July, which were set to be managed by Centura Health.
The hospitals have since been associated with three separate Utah lawsuits seeking a combined $40 million from Steward in damages after investors claim the health system took funds from the five hospitals to pay bills it had acquired across other states.