New Hanover County commissioners voted Oct. 15 to delay a possible sale of New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington, N.C., for at least a year, according to the Star News Online.

Browns Mills, N.J.-based Deborah Heart and Lung Center is the 12th hospital to become a clinical affiliate of Cleveland Clinic's heart institute.

Ascension Wisconsin has entered into a nonbinding memorandum of understanding to sell two Wisconsin hospitals to Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System.

There were 25 hospital and health system transactions in the third quarter of 2019, up from the 19 announced in the second quarter of this year, according to a recent report by financial consulting firm Kaufman Hall.

Board members of Edison, N.J.-based Hackensack Meridian Health and Englewood (N.J.) Health signed a definitive agreement to merge Oct. 15.

Geisinger plans to transfer ownership of Holy Spirit Health System to Penn State Health, the Pennsylvania-based organizations announced Oct. 15. 

After months of negotiations, Elizabeth, N.J.-based Trinitas Regional Health Network has signed a letter of intent to join Robert Wood Johnson Barnabas Health System in West Orange, N.J.

The total number of healthcare mergers and acquisitions hit a record high in 2018, and dozens of deals have been announced this year.

Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare has finalized an agreement to merge with Evergreen Park, Ill.-based Little Company of Mary Hospital and Health Centers. 

The Rural Hospital Group, a company that specializes in helping financially strapped hospitals, has made a bid to buy Hillsboro (Kan.) Community Hospital out of bankruptcy, according to local news website KCUR. 

Minneapolis-based Fairview Health Services, University of Minnesota and University of Minnesota Physicians have launched their new brand: M Health Fairview.

El Segundo, Calif.-based Verity Health, which entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy in August 2018, filed a motion requesting the bankruptcy court enforce the sale order related to its four hospitals.

Marathon Health, a company helping employers set up workplace health centers, has formeda strategic partnership with private equity firm General Atlantic to grow its footprint.

The University of Louisville (Ky.) will pick up the remaining ownership and real estate interest in a cardiovascular institute it owns with a Jewish Hospital partner, according to The Lane Report.

Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems became the largest for-profit hospital operator in the nation in 2014 when it acquired Naples, Fla.-based Health Management Associates. Now, the company is selling off hospitals to pay down its debt.

Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health and Manchester, N.H.-based GraniteOne Health have signed an agreement to combine the two health systems.

In recent years, Atlanta-based Piedmont Healthcare has been on an accelerated path toward growth.

Hartford (Conn.) HealthCare has acquired St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport, Conn., from Ascension, according to the Hartford Business Journal.

Decatur (Ill.) Memorial Hospital has officially joined Memorial Health System, a Springfield, Ill.-based network that now includes five hospitals, according to TV station WAND.

Despite concerns from financial analysts and physicians, Tower Health executives are standing behind their plan to buy St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia out of bankruptcy, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.