AdventHealth and Intermountain’s Denver-area joint venture is forging ahead and Wellstar completed its acquisition of a critical access hospital. Here are three hospital M&A moves Becker’s reported during the week of Aug. 10:
1. Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth and Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health signed a definitive agreement to form their Denver-area joint venture, the next step in a deal that would place eight hospitals under AdventHealth management.
The joint venture would bring together AdventHealth’s five Denver-area hospitals — AdventHealth Avista, AdventHealth Castle Rock, AdventHealth Littleton, AdventHealth Parker and AdventHealth Porter — along with off-site emergency and urgent care centers and dozens of medical practices, and Intermountain’s Good Samaritan Hospital, Lutheran Hospital and Platte Valley Hospital, along with their related physician practices and clinics. AdventHealth will manage and lead daily operations.
The transaction is expected to close in early 2027 and remains subject to regulatory approvals. The structure resembles the model Detroit-based Henry Ford Health and St. Louis-based Ascension used in Michigan in 2024, combining regional assets under one operating platform rather than pursuing a conventional merger.
2. Portland-based MaineHealth received state approval to acquire York (Maine) Hospital, in a deal that is expected to close Oct. 1.
The approval follows a review through Maine’s certificate-of-need process and by the state attorney general. York Hospital will become part of MaineHealth’s Southern region. The organizations said they plan to maintain inpatient services at the hospital while strengthening primary care and expanding patients’ access to specialty services across MaineHealth’s network.
The deal comes as York Hospital and other hospitals face rising labor and supply costs as well as reimbursement pressures. MaineHealth said joining the larger system will give York Hospital access to additional resources, infrastructure and clinical support intended to improve its long-term financial sustainability.
3. Marietta, Ga.-based Wellstar Health System completed its acquisition of Mountain Lakes Medical Center, a 25-bed critical access hospital in Clayton, Ga.
The hospital is now Wellstar Mountain Lakes Medical Center and the 12th hospital in the system. The acute care hospital, which has a Level IV trauma center, serves Rabun County and surrounding northeast Georgia communities. Wellstar is taking a phased approach to integration and said in June that it intends to retain Mountain Lakes’ current employees.
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