From expanding its footprint to major legal wins, Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare has had a busy year. The system comprises 51 hospitals, more than 360 outpatient locations, and over 57,000 employees, according to its website.
Here are eight things to know about Prime Healthcare in 2025:
1. Prime’s Lehigh Acres, Fla.-based Lehigh Regional Medical Center was purchased by Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare in late February. The parties signed an asset purchase agreement for the 53-bed hospital, which was renamed HCA Florida Lehigh Hospital, in early October 2024.
2. Prime acquired eight St. Louis-based Ascension hospitals in Illinois in early March. The system entered an asset purchase agreement with Ascension for the hospitals in July 2024, and received Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board approval in mid-December 2024 to purchase them. The acquisition helped drive Prime’s Fitch Ratings to a ‘B+’ in mid-August, with Moody raising its corporate credit rating to “B2” in mid-July.
3. The health system issued a warning in late April about scams where “unauthorized individuals” impersonated the system by offering fraudulent roles or contacting them with fake opportunities of employment. Prime stressed it does not conduct interviews or offer employment through messaging apps, unofficial email addresses or third-party platforms, and that all legitimate employment opportunities are available on their career page.
4. Prime president and chief medical officer Sunny Bhatia, MD, shared with Becker’s in May how the system was sharpening its cross-market M&A strategy, focusing on acquiring financially distressed, community-essential hospitals and helping them stabilize through clustered market expansion, operational integration and early capital investment.
“Looking ahead, future acquisitions will focus on expanding within existing markets or entering new markets through a cluster scale approach,” Dr. Bhatia said. “In today’s healthcare environment, having the right scale and support is essential. Our strength lies in our ability to adapt. We’re disciplined in our operations, understand market dynamics, and maintain a conservative yet flexible approach to growth. This flexibility allows us to stay true to our core principles: keeping hospitals open and ensuring access to high-quality, compassionate care for underserved communities now and in the future.”
5. Prime eliminated around 100 roles at its eight Illinois hospitals acquired from Ascension in early June. The reduction process targeted a small number of positions that were duplicated or did not align with care model and service line offerings, with most of them not directly providing patient care.
6. A Nevada jury awarded a $510 million verdict in late September to Prime’s Reno, Nev.-based Saint Mary’s Health Network in a fraud case against Universal Health Services and other defendants. The suit, filed in January 2021 by Saint Mary’s and Prime Healthcare, alleged UHS improperly solicited physicians, stole trade secrets and diverted patients, nearly destabilizing the facility.
7. Prime Healthcare Foundation received state approval to acquire Lewiston-based Central Maine Healthcare in late November. CMH comprises three hospitals, a cancer center, a heart and vascular institute and physician practices across the state. CMH facilities will maintain their names and leadership under the acquisition. Prime also plans to implement Epic into the facilities and invest $150 million into them over a five-year period.
8. Prime’s nonprofit public charity, Prime Healthcare Foundation, backed out of acquiring two Rhode Island hospitals owned by bankrupt Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings in early December. Rhode Island officials reached out to Prime in November regarding the purchase of North Providence-based Our Lady of Fatima Hospital and Providence-based Roger Williams Medical Center.
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