Transactions & Valuation Issues

UnitedHealth subsidiary Optum is in talks to acquire Atrius Health, a 715-physician group based in Newton, Mass., according to the Boston Business Journal.

CHI St. Luke's Health and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Texas inked a new contract that will keep the Houston-based health system an in-network provider for 65,000 BCBS of Texas patients.

Health insurance startup Bright Health is picking up another California Medicare Advantage plan, according to a Jan. 6 news release.

Here are four recent contract agreements or conflicts between payers and providers:

Fourteen hospitals owned by Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health could join Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health as early as this summer.

St. Margaret's Hospital in Spring Valley, Ill., and Illinois Valley Community Hospital in Peru have consolidated their operations to form a regional healthcare network. 

Wauwatosa, Wis.-based Froedtert Health plans to acquire a majority stake in Manitowoc, Wis.-based Holy Family Memorial. 

Rochester (N.Y.) Regional Health, a five-hospital system, and St. Lawrence Health System, a three-hospital system in Potsdam, N.Y., have finalized an affiliation agreement.

Twenty-one transactions involving hospitals and health systems were announced, finalized or advanced in the last month:

Montrose (Colo.) Memorial Hospital signed a new management agreement with Community Hospital Consulting.