Mergers and Acquisitions

After earlier expectations of an uptick in deals this year, health systems appear to be more cautious in an unpredictable economic climate.

The systems have secured their final regulatory approval and expect to close the deal shortly. Northwell will acquire Nuvance, which has struggled financially.

Only a handful of deals took place in the first three months of 2025, according to a Kaufman Hall analysis. Most involved a provider in financial distress.

Beacon Health System has reached an agreement to acquire Ascension’s hospitals in southwest Michigan. Ascension has divested other facilities recently.

Bill Gassen, Sanford’s president and CEO, now oversees a system operating 56 hospitals in rural America. He says that the system could look at other deals.

The health system says it has completed the deal. Penn Medicine has added other hospitals in the Philadelphia suburbs in recent years.

There's broad optimism for a rise in transactions this year, but some headwinds could slow the pace of deal activity, according to a new report from BRG.

The Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Rehabilitation paused all services last week. Insight Health Systems acquired them after Steward Health Care declared bankruptcy.

Union Health is still seeking to acquire Terre Haute Regional Hospital, but the plan continues to meet objections from federal regulators.

The Deaconess Health System has an agreement to acquire Jennie Stuart Health. A local group had raised objections but reached a settlement, clearing the way for the deal’s conclusion.

AdventHealth has completed its $260 million acquisition of the ShorePoint Health System from Community Health Systems, Inc.

Prime Healthcare says it has competed the $375 million deal to acquire eight Ascension hospitals in the Chicago area, along with four senior living facilities.

Innovation, strategic thinking, and a favorable regulatory environment should drive more deals.

Fairview Health Sciences says it doesn’t want to merge with the University of Minnesota and Essentia Health. The university and Essentia say they want to move forward.

Emory Healthcare and Houston Healthcare have reached a definitive agreement. If regulators sign off, Houston would become part of Emory.

Matt Heywood, CEO of Aspirus, talks with us about integrating St. Luke’s, a $200M construction project, plans to build a new hospital, and potential for more growth.

Most analysts expect less scrutiny from regulators on mergers and acquisitions involving health systems. But there are bipartisan concerns about the growing consolidation of hospitals.

Many hospital mergers over the past year have involved a party struggling financially. Some mega mergers could be in the works over the coming year as well.

HCA Healthcare is selling the Regional Medical Center to Santa Clara County. County officials say they’re planning to restore some services to the hospital.

Arnot Health and Cayuga Health announced their partnership and said the new organization is Centralus Health. The merged system includes five hospitals.

A new KPMG report finds optimism for more deals in the year ahead. Ash Shehata of KPMG talks with us about why many expect more M&A activity, and some potential headwinds.

Many of the year’s transactions involved systems or hospitals on shaky ground. There were other noteworthy trends in mergers over the past year.

AdventHealth completed the acquisition of a western North Carolina hospital days after Helene hammered the region. Leaders talk about wrapping up the deal in a crisis and helping a devastated community.

Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego and Children’s Hospital of Orange County have come together. The merged organization is now known as Rady Children’s Health.

Citing ‘insurmountable financial challenges,’ the state attorney general has signed off on HCA Healthcare’s planned acquisition of Catholic Medical Center.