Hospital sales are picking up steam as various health systems under financial pressure look to trim underperforming assets, exit noncore markets and redirect capital toward strategic priorities.
Recent hospital divestitures have come from nonprofit giants carrying hundreds of millions of dollars in operating losses, for-profit operators completing full-state exits and other systems shedding community hospital portfolios they no longer consider core to their portfolios.
Here are seven large health systems that have sold or announced plans to sell hospitals this year:
1. CommonSpirit Health
Chicago-based CommonSpirit has sold or is in talks to sell seven hospitals across North Dakota and Ohio as it works to narrow its operating deficit and deliver on a $6 billion turnaround plan over the next 24 to 30 months.
In March, CommonSpirit sold CHI St. Alexius Health Devils Lake (N.D.) — a 25-bed critical access hospital — to Grand Forks, N.D.-based Altru Health System. The 137-hospital system also plans to offload three more North Dakota hospitals to Altru Health and sell Trinity Health System — a three-hospital network in Steubenville, Ohio — to Pittsburgh-based UPMC. Both deals are expected to close this year, pending regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
2. Community Health Systems
Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems has sold several hospitals in recent years to revamp its portfolio, pay down its debt and strengthen its financial performance. That trend has continued into 2026, which includes eight hospital divestitures so far this year.
CHS sold four Arkansas hospitals June 1 to Joplin, Mo.-based Freeman Health System for $110 million, exiting the Arkansas market. The hospitals are part of CHS subsidiary Springdale, Ark.-based Northwest Health and include Northwest Medical Center-Bentonville (128 beds), Northwest Medical Center-Springdale (222 beds), Willow Creek Women’s Hospital in Johnson (64 beds) and Siloam Springs Regional Hospital (73 beds).
On April 1, the for-profit system sold Crestwood Medical Center, a 180-bed hospital in Huntsville, Ala., to Huntsville Hospital Health System for $459 million. CHS also sold its 80% ownership interest in Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville Hospital and the freestanding Tennova ER-Sango to Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Health for $623 million; Vanderbilt had held a 20% minority stake in the hospital since 2021.
Effective Feb. 1, CHS sold its three Pennsylvania hospitals to newly formed nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation for $33 million plus a $15 million promissory note, also exiting Pennsylvania. Under the deal, Tenor acquired Regional Hospital of Scranton (186 beds), Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton (122 beds) and Wilkes-Barre General Hospital (369 beds). CHS owns or leases 60 affiliated hospitals and more than 800 care sites.
CHS now operates 60 hospitals across 12 states.
3. ScionHealth
Louisville, Ky.-based ScionHealth sold eight community hospitals to Brentwood, Tenn.-based Lifepoint Health effective June 2, divesting a substantial portion of its acute care footprint to concentrate on its specialty hospital business.
The eight hospitals, spread across six states, include:
- Bolivar Medical Center (Cleveland, Miss.)
- Ennis (Texas) Regional Medical Center
- Livingston (Tenn.) Regional Hospital
- Logan (W.Va.) Regional Medical Center
- Palestine (Texas) Regional Medical Center
- Parkview Regional Hospital (Mexia, Texas)
- St. Joseph Regional Medical Center (Lewiston, Idaho)
- Watertown (Wis.) Regional Medical Center
ScionHealth said the sale allows it to concentrate on its specialty hospital services division. The health system now operates 63 long-term acute care hospitals and six community hospitals, according to its website.
4. Providence
Renton, Wash.-based Providence will shutter most of its insurance business beginning in 2027 and is divesting select hospital assets as part of a broader push to stabilize finances.
The 51-hospital system in April signed a definitive agreement to sell Queen of the Valley Medical Center, a 198-bed hospital in Napa, Calif., to San Francisco-based NorthBay Health. Providence Mission Hospital Laguna Beach (Calif.) also plans to phase out acute care and emergency services over several years, citing low patient volumes and the cost of required seismic upgrades; on average, 80% of the hospital’s 159 beds are unused each day.
Providence has also divested non-core assets, including the January sale of its clinical decision support tool, MedPearl, to Health Endeavors. It also sold its health IT consulting arm — Tegria Services Group — to healthcare-focused investment firm Altaris.
5. Trinity Health
Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health plans to offload Mercy Medical Center, a 182-bed hospital in Springfield, Mass., to Baystate Health.
Baystate plans to become the sole member of Mercy Medical Center through a member-substitution transaction, a move that would transfer control of the financially challenged hospital from Hartford, Conn.-based Trinity Health of New England. The total value of the ownership transfer is $293 million, representing the last full year of reported operating revenues of Mercy Medical Center, according to financial documents obtained by Becker’s.
Trinity Health cited ongoing financial challenges tied to reimbursement pressure, declining payment rates, outpatient migration and staffing shortages as factors in the divestiture.
6. Quorum Health
Brentwood, Tenn.-based Quorum Health on April 1 sold Scenic Mountain Medical Center, a 146-bed community hospital in Big Spring, Texas, to San Angelo, Texas-based Shannon Health System.
The deal came two months before Quorum, a for-profit operator, signed a definitive agreement to become a nonprofit in a deal expected to close this fall. Quorum CEO Chris Harrison, who previously served as CFO, told Becker’s the planned nonprofit conversion would better position the health system for long-term sustainability as rural hospitals face mounting financial and operational pressures.
Quorum now operates 11 hospitals across nine states and is preparing to launch a management services organization aimed at helping rural hospitals streamline IT and revenue cycle operations.
7. Franciscan Alliance
Mishawaka, Ind.-based Franciscan Alliance in May sold Franciscan Health Olympia Fields (Ill.), a 214-bed hospital, to Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare.
Prime entered an agreement in January to acquire both the Olympia Fields hospital and Specialty Physicians of Illinois from Franciscan Alliance. The hospital is Prime’s ninth in Illinois and 55th overall.
Franciscan Alliance, a faith-based system, now operates 12 hospitals, according to its website.
At the Becker's 11th Annual IT + Revenue Cycle Conference: The Future of AI & Digital Health, taking place September 14–17 in Chicago, healthcare executives and digital leaders from across the country will come together to explore how AI, interoperability, cybersecurity, and revenue cycle innovation are transforming care delivery, strengthening financial performance, and driving the next era of digital health. Apply for complimentary registration now.