Transactions & Valuation Issues

CHRISTUS Health is planning to build a full-service hospital in Alvin, Texas, according to a report by Fox News Houston.

Weight Loss Surgical Center is planning to build a specialty hospital in Overland Park, Kan., called Blue Valley Hospital, according to a report in the Kansas City Business Journal.

Memphis, Tenn.-based Baptist Memorial Health Care Corp. is planning to sell its Baptist Memorial Hospital-Lauderdale in Ripley, Tenn., to Kansas City, Mo.-based HMC/CAH Consolidated, according to a report by the Commercial Appeal.

Supporters of a new Oklahoma heart hospital are asking Congress to make their facility an exception to the proposed ban on new specialty hospitals in the federal health reform legislation, according to a report by KSBI-TV.

Carilion Clinic said its acquisition of 10-physician Roanoke (Va.) Orthopaedic Center will not violate a consent order it signed with the Federal Trade Commission that limits its merger activity, according to a report by the Roanoke Times.

St. Joseph's Hospital in Elmira, N.Y., and Guthrie Healthcare System in Sayre, Pa., have called off plans for a possible merger that would have brought St. Joseph's into the Guthrie system, according to a report by the Star-Gazette.

Tyler Memorial Hospital in Tunkhannock, Pa., is merging with Mercy Health Partners as of Jan. 1, 2010, according to a report by WNEP News.

Construction is set to begin this week on a free-standing children's hospital at Penn State's Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, according to a Penn State Hershey news release.

The trend of hospital mergers and consolidation may actually lead to higher costs in some markets while showing no marked improvements in quality, according to an essay by William B. Vogt, PhD, senior economist for the RAND Corp.

Healthcare is one of the only sectors of the economy where construction is expected to grow in 2010, benefiting from relatively stable costs of construction materials, according to a release by Associated Builders and Contractors.