John Muir Health

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, retailers, health tech companies and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, health tech companies, retailers and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Here’s a roundup of new deals that were revealed, closed, rumored or called off during the month of December. PROVIDER Jefferson Health and Lehigh Valley Health Network signed a non-binding letter of intent to merge and form a $14 billion nonprofit health system. The deal targets a 2024 close and would create a 62,000-employee organization with 30 hospitals and over 700 care sites in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Of note, the integrated care delivery system would be supported by Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson’s nonprofit health plan. Froedtert Health and ThedaCare confirmed that their $5.5 billion combination had moved past customary closing conditions, such as regulatory review. As of Jan. 1, the merger has closed. Children’s Hospital of Orange County and Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego unveiled plans to merge under the new banner of Rady Children’s Health. The deal, which would create one of the West Coast’s largest providers of pediatric care, is subject to regulatory review and targets a 2024 close. John Muir Health and Tenet Healthcare called off the buyout of Tenet’s 51% stake in San Ramon Regional Medical Center in the wake of the Federal Trade Commission’s objections filed in November. The $142.5 million deal would have eliminated the nonprofit’s primary competition for inpatient general acute care in the region, the regulator said. John Muir said it was “disappointed” in the objection but that the “significant money and time required” to fight the regulator would be better spent elsewhere. Community Health Systems closed a deal to sell three Florida hospitals to Tampa General Hospital. The transaction totaled $280 million in cash and $14 million of estimated working capital and other purchase price adjustments. Vandalia Health acquired the three-hospital Davis Health System in a deal the former said has made it the second-largest nonprofit integrated system in West Virginia. UCHealth picked up the two-hospital system Parkview Health to bring its total to 14 hospitals. The Colorado system plans to invest almost $200 million into the two hospitals over the next decade and assist with staffing. Baptist Health acquired Drew Memorial Health System, an Arkansas organization that includes a 60-bed hospital, two clinics and home health services. HCA Houston Healthcare, part of the larger HCA Healthcare, bought 11 freestanding emergency departments from SignatureCare Emergency Center, bringing its total in the Houston area to 26. Financial terms were not disclosed. UC San Diego Health completed its $200 million purchase of Alvarado Hospital Medical Center from Prime Healthcare. The 302-bed center has been renamed UC San Diego Health East Campus Medical Center. Lifepoint Health and Ascension Saint Thomas formed a joint venture in Northern Middle Tennessee to split ownership of Highpoint Health System. PAYER Cigna and Humana’s potential $140 billion merger crumbled due to concerns from investors and no common ground on key financial terms, per reports. In its wake, rumors have swirled that Cigna is accepting bids for its $3 billion-plus Medicare Advantage business, with Health Care Service Corp. and Elevance Health named as potential buyers. Elevance Health and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana’s sidelined merger came back from the dead when the latter filed an updated application seeking to reorganize as a for-profit, which would pave the way for a purchase. The $2.5 billion pickup was put on hold amid regulatory scrutiny a couple of months prior. UnitedHealth Group filed a notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission disclosing a sale of its Brazilian health insurance business, Amil, to entrepreneur José Seripieri Filho. The deal, which reportedly involved a roughly $515.2 million bid, is expected to close in the first half of 2024 pending regulatory approvals. Bright Health Group’s sale of its Medicare Advantage plans to Molina Healthcare cleared regulatory hurdles, which cleared the way for a Jan. 1 close. Earlier in the month, Molina had lowered the purchase price for the business to about $500 million, of which $100 million had been siphoned into an escrow account.   TECH KKR & Co., a private equity firm, is reported to be exploring a deal to buy a 50% stake in Cotiviti. The healthcare analytics company is owned by Verscend Technology, which is owned by Veritas Capital. Such a deal would value Cotiviti between $10 billion and $11 billion. R1 RCM, which makes patient experience and financial performance technology for providers, entered a definitive agreement to acquire Providence’s revenue cycle management technology spinout Acclara. The agreement outlines a $675 million cash agreement with warrants to purchase 12.2 million shares of R1 stock, as well as a 10-year agreement between Acclara and its former parent health system for comprehensive revenue cycle services. Guidehealth, a value-based care enablement startup, has purchased the managed service organization and value-based care service division of Arcadia, a health tech company that offers a data analytics platform for providers and payers. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ConcertAI, a real-world evidence and AI company, acquired the American Society of Clinical Oncology subsidiary CancerlinQ to grow its oncology data capabilities. CoachCare, a remote patient monitoring and virtual health company, purchased fellow remote patient monitoring company Verustat. Terms of the acquisition, CoachCare’s fourth in 12 months, were not disclosed. TREND Health Partners, a healthcare payment technology company, acquired AI clinical review platform Advent Health Partners for an undisclosed sum.

John Muir had planned to buy out Tenet's 51% stake in San Ramon Regional Medical Center, a deal the FTC and the State of California said would give the former too much control over the local inpatient care market. John Muir Health and Tenet Healthcare have chosen to call off a hospital deal that had been contested by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the State of California, eliciting a quick victory lap from the regulators. “The FTC has scored another major healthcare win in less than a month, delivering patients in California continued access to quality, affordable healthcare services,” FTC Bureau of Competition Director Henry Liu said in a Monday statement. The $142.5 million deal would have seen nonprofit John Muir buying out the 51% stake in San Ramon Regional Medical Center held by for-profit Tenet. The former system had held a 49% interest in the 123-bed facility since 2013. The regulators filed to block the deal in November, citing a joint investigation that determined John Muir would be eliminating its primary competition for inpatient general acute care in the region—specifically, that the Walnut Creek, California-based system would control 50% of the local market due to its ownership of two other nearby hospitals. John Muir Health President and CEO Mike Thomas said shortly after the block that the organizations would be conducting a “more in-depth review of the transaction” before deciding on their next course of action. The deal’s initial announcement had highlighted electronic health record integrations, facility investments, extended population health programs and reduced administrative expenses among the purchase’s potential benefits. In new statements given to reporters, the nonprofit said the “significant money and time required to litigate can be better spent on other initiatives.” "Both Tenet and JMH remain very disappointed in the FTC's decision and strongly disagree with the assumptions and conclusions that were reached in their court submission," the nonprofit said in the statement. We maintain our shared belief that the proposed transaction would have provided substantial benefits for patients and the community." John Muir said that it and Tenant will continue to run the hospital under the existing 49-51 joint venture structure, with Tenant managing operations. With news of the deal’s demise, regulators have now filed to dismiss their case. “John Muir’s anticompetitive hospital takeover would have driven up health care costs for critical services like heart surgery, spinal surgery and maternity care. It also threatened to eliminate improvements in care driven by competition, which directly benefit patients,” the FTC’s Liu said. “Now that this transaction is terminated, John Muir and Tenet’s San Ramon Regional Medical Center can continue competing head-to-head to offer high-quality care at the best prices for Californians in the I-680 corridor.” Word of the FTC’s successful challenge comes as the agency and the Department of Justice finalized their 2023 Merger Guidelines. Regulators said the latest update takes into account “modern market realities,” such as vertical and horizontal integration, that threaten competition.

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, retailers, health tech companies and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, health tech companies, retailers and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Here’s a roundup of new deals that were revealed, closed, rumored or called off during the month of November. Provider BJC HealthCare and Saint Luke’s Health System announced their $10 billion merger has satisfied “all regulatory reviews” and is targeting a close at the top of the new year. The Missouri nonprofits’ cross-market deal will yield a 28-hospital entity that generates a combined $1 billion in annual community benefits, they said. Tenet Healthcare cut a deal with Novant Health to offload three South Carolina hospitals and their related operations for about $2.4 billion. The all-cash deal will leave Tenet with after-tax proceeds of about $1.75 billion, funds which Tenet said it anticipates using “primarily for debt retirement.” The organizations are aiming for a first quarter of 2024 close, pending regulatory approvals, clearances and closing conditions. Novant Health also reportedly completed all the steps to finalize the transfer of the Pender Medical Center, in North Carolina. The hospital has 25 beds with 43 skilled nursing beds, and will be the beneficiary of a $50 million investment over 10 years from its soon-to-be owner. John Muir Health’s plans to purchase Tenet Healthcare’s majority stake in the jointly-owned San Ramon Regional Medical Center, in California, is being challenged in court by the Federal Trade Commission. The regulator, which coordinated with the California attorney general’s office, said the deal would lead to less competition and higher healthcare costs in the hospital’s market. In a statement, John Muir Health President and CEO Mike Thomas said that his organization is considering its next course of action but will maintain the joint venture structure in the meantime. Queen’s Health System, in Hawaii, entered into an asset purchase agreement to acquire Wahiawa General Hospital. The arrangement is undergoing a 90- to 120-day period of due diligence but targets a March 31, 2024 purchase date. Financial terms were not disclosed. NYU Langone Health acquired Pediatric Urology Associates in 10 practice locations, a deal that the system said triples its pediatric urology care team. Terms were not disclosed. Payer Cigna and Humana are reportedly discussing an all-cash merger deal that could be finalized before the end of 2023. The payers’ respective $83 billion and $62 billion market values would be enough to rival major competitors but could warrant antitrust pushback. Cigna was also reported earlier in the month to be seeking a buyer for its Medicare Advantage business. Further investigations following the Humana news suggest that Health Care Service Corp. could be an interested buyer. Tech Virgin Pulse, a digital-first health, well-being and navigation company, completed its merger with third-party health benefits administrator HealthComp. The deal creates a new entity valued at $3 billion and aims to drive lower costs as well as improved outcomes for employer customers. Thoma Bravo, a private equity firm, locked in its $1.8 billion acquisition of ambulatory technology company NextGen Healthcare following an affirmatory vote from the latter’s shareholders. Those shareholders will receive $23.95 per share in cash. GTCR, a private equity firm, signed a definitive agreement to acquire healthcare language interpretation tech maker Cloudbreak Health from UpHealth for $180 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2024. Surescripts, a health information network, acquired ActiveRADAR (formerly RxTE Health) to build out therapeutic alternatives for prescription drugs. By incorporating the latter’s therapeutic alternative-identifying solutions weekly into their platform, Surescripts will optimize network solutions to help providers get patients started on the best, most cost-effective medications based on their specific care and payment needs at the point of prescribing, according to company executives. Financial terms were not disclosed. Aya Healthcare, a digital staffing company, acquired data science-driven recruiting solution Winnow AI to bolster its physician recruitment capabilities. Financial terms of the deal, Aya’s third in five months, were not disclosed. Viome Life Sciences acquired Naring Health to build out personalized nutrition offerings as part of its at-home diagnostics business. Acquiring the digital health and wellness company will provide Viome with access to clinical and molecular data to fuel its efforts in personalizing health and medicine, according to the company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.