Financial pressures have forced many community hospitals to shut down departments, lay off employees or close services, which forces patients to travel further distances to regional centers — often academic centers — which have become overcrowded. Many of these hospitals also also need to undergo infrastructure improvements and digital transformation, both of which are expensive.
In addition to maintaining access to care in local communities, acquiring community hospitals offers various other benefits to academic health systems, including:
- Reducing the academic medical center’s total cost of care by treating lower-acuity patients in a lower-cost community hospital setting.
- Enhanced reimbursement opportunities if the acquired facilities are designated as a critical access hospital or rural emergency hospital.
- Improving access to the academic medical center’s services, expanding its clinicians and branding into new markets and boosting capacity at the main campus for higher-acuity care.
- Advancing the quality and scope of care at community hospitals by implementing care design protocols and other best practices to community hospital partners.
- Providing a talent pipeline for physician recruitment and residency programs in community hospital settings.
Here are 19 academic health systems that recently acquired or plan to add more hospitals:
Note: This is not a comprehensive list.
1. Morgantown.-based West Virginia University Health System, which operates under the brand name WVU Medicine, has expanded its community hospital through several recent acquisitions in the state, including:
- Weirton Medical Center
- Grant Memorial Hospital (Petersburg)
- Thomas Health (Charleston)
2. The University of Michigan Health acquired Lansing, Mich.-based Sparrow Health System in April 2023. Four months later, Midland-based MyMichigan Health, a nonprofit system affiliated with the University of Michigan Health System, purchased three Michigan hospitals from St. Louis-based Ascension. MyMichigan also acquired the Ascension Medical Group care sites and physician practices associated with the hospitals, which include:
- Ascension St. Mary’s (Saginaw)
- Ascension St. Mary’s (Standish)
- Ascension St. Joseph (Tawas City)
3. UCSF Health acquired two hospitals — San Francisco-based Saint Francis Memorial Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center — from Dignity Health in August for $100 million. UCSF will invest $100 million to support the integration of the hospitals, which have shed their religious affiliation and are now known as UCSF Health Saint Francis and UCSF Health St. Mary’s.
4. Orange, Calif.-based UCI Health added 858 inpatient beds this year after acquiring four hospitals for $975 million from Tenet Healthcare’s Pacific Coast Network. The hospitals include:
- Fountain Valley Regional Hospital
- Lakewood Regional Medical Center
- Los Alamitos Medical Center
- Placentia-Linda Hospital
5. Washington (Pa.) Health, a two-hospital system, joined Pittsburgh-based UPMC in June. UPMC will invest at least $300 million over the next 10 years to improve services at the two hospitals, which have been rebranded as UPMC Washington and UPMC Greene hospitals.
6. Kansas City-based University of Kansas Health System acquired Liberty (Mo.) Hospital in July 2024. The acquisition saw KU Health increase the number of hospitals in its portfolio to nine. Liberty Hospital is the health system’s first hospital in Missouri.
7. In July 2024, Lexington-based UK HealthCare, part of the University of Kentucky, acquired St. Claire HealthCare in Morehead, Ky. The transaction follows UK HealthCare’ December 2022 acquisition of King’s Ashland, Ky.-based Daughters Health, a 465-bed system.
8. Cooper University Health Care acquired Cape May, N.J.-based Cape Regional Health System. The combined health system now comprises two hospitals with more than 900 beds, 130 ambulatory sites and almost 11,000 employees, including over 1,000 physicians.
9. Dartmouth Health acquired Valley Regional Hospital, a 25-bed facility in Claremont, N.H. Lebanon, N.H.-based Dartmouth previously collaborated with Valley Regional for many services, including cardiology, oncology, pathology and radiology.
10. Philadelphia-based University of Pennsylvania Health System in April 2025 acquired Doylestown (Pa.) Health. The acquisition of the 245-bed teaching hospital, Doylestown Hospital, transforms Penn Medicine into a seven-hospital system.
11. Atlanta-based Emory Healthcare acquired Houston Healthcare, a two-hospital campus in Warner Robins, Ga. The transaction included 282 hospital beds and seven outpatient facilities and increased the number of hospitals in Emory’s footprint to 13.
12. Detroit-based Henry Ford Health and Ascension Michigan launched a joint venture that essentially folded Ascension’s sites of care in the southeastern region of the state under the Henry Ford Health brand. Bob Riney, president and CEO of Henry Ford Health, leads the JV, which comprises about 50,000 employees and more than 550 care sites across Michigan under Henry Ford Health. The following 10 Ascension Michigan hospitals, which have since rebranded, are covered by the JV:
- Ascension Genesys Hospital
- Ascension Macomb-Oakland Hospital and Warren, Madison Heights campuses
- Ascension Providence Hospital and Novi, Southfield campuses
- Ascension Providence Rochester Hospital
- Ascension River District Hospital
- Ascension St. John Hospital
13. Aurora, Colo-based UCHealth signed a letter of intent in October for Estes Park (Colo.) Health to join the health system in 2025. Under the LOI, UCHealth will invest more than $30 million into EPH as well as help stabilize its finances, recruit new employees, and expand virtual health and behavioral health services. UCHealth and EPH aim to complete a final agreement in the coming months, with a transaction closing date anticipated next spring.
14. Orlando (Fla.) Health acquired three Steward Health Care hospitals and related physician practices in Florida. The $439 million deal included Rockledge (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, Melbourne (Fla.) Regional Medical Center, Sebastian (Fla.) River Medical Center and some of Steward Medical Group’s practices.
Orlando Health also acquired Tenet’s 70% majority ownership interest in Birmingham, Ala.-based Brookwood Baptist Health, which includes five hospitals:
- Brookwood Baptist Medical Center (Birmingham)
- Princeton Baptist Medical Center (Birmingham)
- Walker Baptist Medical Center (Jasper, Ala.)
- Shelby Baptist Medical Center (Alabaster, Ala.)
- Citizens Baptist Medical Center (Talladega, Ala.)
The deal was valued at about $910 million in cash with after-tax proceeds of approximately $790 million.
15. The University of Alabama System acquired Ascension St. Vincent’s Health System, which includes five hospitals, for $450 million.
16. Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Health System acquired Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, a 123-bed hospital in Mooresville, N.C., from CHS for $284 million.
17. Jackson-based University of Mississippi Medical Center acquired Merit Health Madison, a 67-bed facility in Canton, Miss. The acquisition builds on a business relationship that began in 2019, when UMMC physicians started performing procedures at the hospital. UMMC bought the hospital from CHS.
18. Bethlehem, Pa.-based St. Luke’s University Health Network acquired Sellersville, Pa.-based Grand View Health. Grand View is St. Luke’s 16th campus.
19. New York City-based NYU Langone Health acquired Patchogue, N.Y.-based Long Island Community Hospital in March 2025. The 306-bed hospital is NYU Langone’s seventh inpatient facility and is now known as NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk.
