Transactions & Valuation Issues

Danville, Pa.-based Geisinger Health System will acquire Scranton, Pa.-based Professional Orthopaedic Associates, effective Jan. 1, 2018.

  Baptist Health, a nine-hospital system in Louisville, Ky., signed a letter of intent to acquire and operate Elizabethtown, Ky.-based Hardin Memorial Health Nov. 6.

The D.C. Council voted 7-6 Tuesday to sever its relationship with Veritas, which operates Washington, D.C.-based United Medical Center, and turned down a one-year, $4.2 million management contract extension with the consulting firm, according to the Washington Business Journal.

Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health's German subsidiary acquired a minority stake in Munich, Germany-based health system Isar-Klinik II AG, which owns the Isar Klinikum hospital in Munich, marking Sanford's first investment in an international hospital.

Residents of Oktibbeha County, Miss., will vote whether Starkville, Miss.-based OCH Regional Medical Center will continue operating as a county-owned hospital Nov. 7, according to a Daily Journal report.

The following healthcare mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and general transactions took place or were announced during the past week.

Reading, Pa.-based Tower Health, formerly Reading Health System, reportedly paid $418 million in total to acquire five hospitals from Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems earlier this year, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing obtained by The Mercury.

A bankruptcy court hearing regarding the proposed sale of Eden, N.C.-based Morehead Memorial Hospital has been postponed until Nov. 8 after several organizations raised objections to the transaction, according to the Triad Business Journal.

CVS Health and Aetna aim to finalize their proposed merger as soon as December, sources familiar with the deal told Reuters.

Cooper Clinic and Mercy Clinic in Fort Smith, Ark., officially merged Nov. 1 after gaining approval last month to integrate from the boards of both organizations.