Alan Condon

As merger and acquisition activity picks up post-pandemic, dozens of large health systems are expanding their footprints — adding hospitals, building regional dominance and solidifying national reach.

Here are 24 large health systems that have grown in quarters or are planning strategic mergers or acquisitions this year:

Editor’s note: This is not an exhaustive list.

1. Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist, part of Charlotte, N.C.-based Advocate Health, acquired Hugh Chatham Health in Elkin, N.C., in July. Hugh Chatham Health includes an 81-bed acute care hospital and a medical group with more than 70 providers across 25 locations. Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit health system in the U.S.

2. Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke’s University Health Network acquired Sellersville, Pa.-based Grand View Health in July. Grand View is St. Luke’s 16th campus. St. Luke’s is a nonprofit system with 21,000 employees and more than $4 billion in revenue. 

3. New Hyde Park, N.Y.-based Northwell Health and Danbury, Conn.-based Nuvance Health merged into a 28-hospital system in May. The integrated system has more than 1,050 ambulatory care sites, 104,000 employees and annual revenues of about $23 billion.

4. Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare acquired eight Illinois hospitals from St. Louis-based Ascension in March. The transaction increased the number of hospitals in Prime’s portfolio to 53. Prime also plans to acquire Lewiston-based Central Maine Healthcare, entering another new state, by the end of 2025. Central Maine Healthcare is an integrated health system with three hospitals, a cancer center and network of physician practices across the state. 

5. Nashville Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare acquired Catholic Medical Center, a 330-bed regional system in Manchester, N.H., in February. HCA, a 187-hospital system, now operates four hospitals in New Hampshire, including Parkland Medical Center in Derry, Portsmouth Regional Hospital and Frisbie Memorial Hospital in Rochester. The for-profit system also acquired  Lehigh Acres, Fla.-based Lehigh Regional Medical Center from Prime Healthcare in February. The 53-bed hospital — renamed HCA Florida Lehigh Hospital — is part of HCA’s west Florida division. 

6. Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth acquired ShorePoint Health-Port Charlotte (Fla.) and certain assets of ShorePoint Health-Punta Gorda (Fla.) from Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health System in March. AdventHealth acquired the hospitals for $260 million.

7. Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health and Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System merged into a 56-hospital system with about 56,000 employees and two health plans, effective Jan. 1, 2025. 

8. Columbus-based OhioHealth in January acquired Morrow County Hospital, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Mount Gilead, Ohio, becoming the health system’s 16th hospital. In the past two years, OhioHealth has acquired two other hospitals —  Van Wert (Ohio) Hospital and Southeastern Medical Center in Cambridge — and opened Pickerington Methodist Hospital. 

9. Greenville, S.C.-based Prisma Health in December acquired Maryville, Tenn.-based Blount Memorial Hospital, a 304-bed, nonprofit community hospital. Blount Memorial is the only hospital that Prisma operates outside of South Carolina. 

10. Risant Health, a nonprofit formed under Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, acquired Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger and Greensboro, N.C.-based Cone Health last year. Risant plans to acquire about three to four other health systems to become a company with up to $35 billion in annual revenue over the next five years.

11. Morgantown.-based West Virginia University Health System has quickly grown into a 25-hospital, regional system after a string of acquisitions in recent years, including:

Weirton Medical Center

Grant Memorial Hospital (Petersburg)

Thomas Health (Charleston)

12. In November, The University of Alabama System acquired Ascension St. Vincent’s Health System, which includes five hospitals, for $450 million. The deal increased the number of hospitals in UAB Health’s footprint to 17. 

13. Irving, Texas-based Christus Health, which comprises more than 60 hospitals, acquired Wadley Regional Medical Center in Texarkana, Texas, in November. 

14. Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare acquired Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital, an 80-bed facility in Dixon, Ill., in September 2024. 

15. Orlando (Fla.) Health in October 2024 acquired Tenet’s 70% majority ownership interest in Birmingham, Ala.-based Brookwood Baptist Health for about $910 million in cash. The transaction includes five hospitals: 

Brookwood Baptist Medical Center (Birmingham)

Princeton Baptist Medical Center (Birmingham)

Walker Baptist Medical Center (Jasper, Ala.)

Shelby Baptist Medical Center (Alabaster, Ala.)

Citizens Baptist Medical Center (Talladega, Ala.)

The health system also acquired three Steward Health Care hospitals in Florida. The $439 million deal included Rockledge (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, Melbourne (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, Sebastian (Fla.) River Medical Center and some of Steward Medical Group’s practices.

16. In September, St. Louis-based Mercy acquired Ascension Via Christi Hospital in Pittsburg, Kan. Mercy, a 50-hospital system, now has three hospitals in Kansas: Mercy Hospital Pittsburg, Mercy Hospital Columbus and Mercy Specialty Hospital-Southeast Kansas in Galena. 

17. Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health and Allentown, Pa.-based Lehigh Valley Health Network merged to form a 32-hospital system with more than 700 care sites in August 2024. The combined entity creates one of the 15 largest non-profit health systems in the U.S.

18. UCSF Health acquired two hospitals — San Francisco-based Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center — from Dignity Health in August 2024. As part of the $100 million acquisition, the hospitals shed their religious affiliation and are now known as UCSF Health Saint Francis and UCSF Health St. Mary’s. UCSF will invest $100 million to support the integration of the hospitals over the next two years.

19. MyMichigan Health acquired three Michigan hospitals and their related assets from St. Louis-based Ascension in August. Midland-based MyMichigan also acquired the Ascension Medical Group care sites and physician practices associated with the hospitals, which include: 

Ascension St. Mary’s (Saginaw)

Ascension St. Mary’s (Standish)

Ascension St. Joseph (Tawas City)

20. Washington (Pa.) Health, a two-hospital system, joined Pittsburgh-based UPMC in June 2024. As part of the affiliation, UPMC will invest at least $300 million over a decade to improve clinical services at the two hospitals, which have been rebranded as UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene hospitals. 

21. Morristown, N.J.-based Atlantic Health System signed a definitive agreement to acquire New Brunswick, N.J.-based Saint Peter’s Healthcare System in June 2024. Under the proposed transaction, Atlantic Health will take Saint Peter’s under its wing to become its single corporate member. Saint Peter’s Catholic mission and identity would be maintained under the deal.

22. Orange, Calif.-based UCI Health acquired four hospitals for $975 million from Tenet Healthcare’s Pacific Coast Network in March 2024. They include: 

Fountain Valley Regional Hospital

Lakewood Regional Medical Center

Los Alamitos Medical Center 

Placentia-Linda Hospital 

23. In March 2024, Roseville, Calif.-based Adventist Health spent about $550 million to acquire two hospitals from Tenet: Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center in San Luis Obispo and Twin Cities Community Hospital in Templeton, Calif. The hospitals have been rebranded as Adventist Health Sierra Vista and Adventist Health Twin Cities.

24. Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health spent $2.4 billion to acquire three hospitals from Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare in February 2024. They include: 

East Cooper Medical Center (Mount Pleasant, S.C.)

Hilton Head (S.C.) Hospital

Coastal Carolina Hospital (Hardeeville, S.C.)

The post 24 large health systems growing bigger appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Franklin, Tenn.-based Williamson Health is considering a potential sale amid mounting financial and operational pressures challenging independent hospitals and health systems nationwide.

The system’s board of trustees is engaged in a strategic planning process to determine the best path forward, which includes evaluating the feasibility of remaining independent versus seeking a buyer. Although Williamson Health is currently “fiscally sound,” projections indicate a need for significant capital over the next five years to support community growth and infrastructure needs, according to a July 14 presentation to the Williamson County Board of Commissioners.

“No decision has been made. This is the beginning of a thoughtful, deliberate process,” Williamson Health CEO Phil Mazzuca said in a July 14 news release. “There are multiple variables that could allow us to remain independent… Our focus is not just on surviving the challenge ahead, but on building a stronger, more resilient future.”

The board has created a subcommittee to explore all options, including launching a formal request for proposal process. 

The strategic review comes as independent hospitals and health systems such as Williamson Health contend with rising staffing costs, low reimbursement rates and changing care delivery models. While the board favors maintaining independence, Chair Bo Butler said it has a fiduciary responsibility to consider all options to ensure long-term sustainability.

“One of the most rewarding aspects of this process would be gaining the ability to bring entirely new healthcare initiatives to the community that were previously beyond our financial reach,” Mr. Mazzuca said. “If new ownership is determined to be the best path forward, the anticipated proceeds will empower a newly formed independent foundation to invest in programs and services that could transform the health and well-being of our community in ways we never thought possible.”

A final decision is not expected until late fall at the earliest, and the review process could take up to three years.
The post Tennessee health system mulls sale as pressures mount  appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

The American Hospital Association voiced strong concerns following the July 15 release of CMS’ proposed rule for the 2026 hospital outpatient prospective payment system.

Four things to know: 

1. The proposal includes a net 2.4% rate increase — a 3.2% market basket update reduced by a 0.8 percentage point productivity cut. Ashley Thompson, AHA senior vice president of public policy analysis and development, called the update “inadequate,” particularly for hospitals in rural and underserved communities facing significant financial strain.

2. CMS also proposed phasing out the inpatient-only list over three years, starting with 285 mostly musculoskeletal procedures, and expanding site-neutral payment policies, including a 40% OPPS rate for drug administration services in grandfathered off-campus hospital outpatient departments. Ms. Thompson said both policies “fail to account for the real and crucial differences” between hospital outpatient departments and other care settings.

3. The agency is also accelerating a repayment plan requiring hospitals to return $7.8 billion in overpayments related to 340B non-drug services. Instead of 0.5% annual cuts over 14 years, CMS has proposed 2% cuts annually through 2031.

“It is important to remember that this clawback punishes 340B hospitals for the agency’s own mistake in implementing a policy that a unanimous Supreme Court held to be unlawful,” Ms. Thompason said in a statement. “Doubling down on that unlawfulness, the proposed recoupment is both illegal and unwise, and it should not be finalized.”

4. CMS also proposed a new drug acquisition cost survey, quality reporting changes for outpatient, ASC and rural emergency hospitals, and updates to the hospital price transparency rule. Public comments will be accepted for 60 days.

“We look forward to reviewing these proposals in more detail and participating in the comment process with the agency,” Ms. Thompson said.
The post CMS’ $7.8B hospital clawback plan ‘illegal and unwise’: AHA appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.

Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Cottage Health, a five hospital system, has appointed Matt Morgan senior vice president and CFO, effective August 19.

Mr. Morgan has more than 20 years of healthcare financial leadership experience and most recently served as vice president and CFO of Montage Health in Monterey, Calif. 

He has a Master of Business Administration degree from California State University Northridge and is a fellow of the Healthcare Financial Management Association and the American College of Healthcare Executives. 

Mr. Morgan’s appointment comes shortly after Cottage Health named Scott Wester president and CEO.
The post CFO joins California system following CEO transition appeared first on Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News & Analysis.