Bert Fish Medical Center in New Smyrna Beach, Fla., agreed to merge with Adventist Health System despite a late challenge from Halifax Health, a public health system based in Port Orange, Fla. Halifax had challenged the merger by offering Bert Fish $71 million and lower taxes.
Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives and Avera Health in Sioux Falls, S.D., are pursuing a formal collaborative relationship between CHI’s St. Mary’s Healthcare Center and the Avera Medical Associates Clinic.
Comprehensive Cardiology Consultants, a practice of 10 cardiologists based in Cincinnati, joined St. Elizabeth Healthcare, becoming the only group of cardiologists directly employed by the system. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but St. Elizabeth will still work with independent cardiology groups in the area.
Erie, Pa.-based Hamot Health Foundation, which operates Hamot Medical Center, announced it is exploring a potential merger or affiliation with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic. The health system will explore both a clinical affiliation and a full merger with each organization to determine which would be most beneficial to the system.
Connecticut’s Office of Health Care Access approved the affiliation between Hartford Hospital and the Hospital of Central Connecticut, under which the Hospital of Central Connecticut’s parent company would join Hartford Health Care Corp. The merger still needs the approval of the FTC.
Health Management Associates acquired a 60 percent interest in three Shands HealthCare hospitals: Shands Lake Shore in Lake City, Shands Live Oak and Shands Starke. The transaction is expected to be completed by July 1, and Shands will retain 40 percent ownership of the hospitals.
LifePoint Hospitals completed its acquisition of 100-bed Clark Regional Medical Center in Winchester, Ky. As part of the acquisition, which was announced in April, LifePoint agreed to invest $60 million to build and equip a 132,000-square-foot hospital to replace Clark Regional’s current facility.
LifePoint Hospitals also agreed to acquire Gallatin, Tenn.-based Sumner Regional Health System for $145 million. As part of the deal, LifePoint will invest $60-million in capital spending for the ailing four-hospital system over the next 10 years.
Lifespan’s Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals, both located in Providence, announced a proposal to merge the two organizations’ open heart and elective joint replacement services within six to nine months. Miriam would move its open-heart program to Rhode Island Hospital, and all elective joint replacements would move to Miriam, where a Bone and Joint Center of Excellence would be established. The mergers of these services are the first step in a plan to merge Miriam and Rhode Island Hospitals into a single institution with two campuses.
Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare System and Rockford Health System are exploring a merger in which OSF would acquire Rockford Health. Rockford Health previously explored a merger with Oak Brook, Ill.-based Advocate Health in 2008, but the deal fell through.
RegionalCare Hospital Partners acquired 150-bed Clinton Memorial Hospital in Wilmington, Ohio, for $82 million. RegionalCare also agreed to invest in CMH $60 million in capital expenditures and $15 million in physician recruitment, both over the next 10 years.
RegionalCare Hospital Partners also expects to complete its plans to acquire the Coffee Health Group by June 30. RegionalCare will invest $400 million in the system, including $150 million to cover Coffee’s debts and $250 million to rebuild Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital in Florence, Ala.
St. Luke’s Hospital in Maumee, Ohio, agreed to join ProMedica Health System, and details of the transaction will be finalized over the next few months.
Singing River Health System in Pascagoula, Miss., and George Regional Health System in Lucedale, Miss., announced a partnership in which the hospitals will work together for the provision of specialty services and to identify other opportunities for collaboration.
Southcoast Health System in Southeastern Massachusetts, signed an affiliation agreement with physicians from MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston to provide guidance on cancer treatments, including advice on drugs, pain control and chemotherapy safety. Southcoast will pay the MD Anderson physicians an undisclosed amount as part of the agreement.
Kingsport, Tenn.-based Wellmont Health System acquired Cardiovascular Associates, a 30-physician cardiovascular practice. Under the merger agreement, CVA physicians and staff will become employees of Wellmont, but CVA will retain its name.
