Joint ventures are the latest asset health systems are putting on the table as they trim their portfolios.
Most recently, Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Health said it plans to exit Trinsic, a Colorado clinically integrated network of more than 900 primary care physicians Intermountain formed with Aurora, Colo.-based UCHealth in 2023. UCHealth will take over the network after Dec. 7, according to a WARN notice Intermountain filed Oct. 2. Neither system has publicly detailed why Intermountain is exiting, but the move makes it at least the third large operator in 2026 to hand a joint venture to its partner.
The exits are part of a broader portfolio pullback. In the first quarter of 2026, 68% of announced hospital transactions involved a divestiture, up from 45.6% in 2025, Kaufman Hall found. Nonprofit systems carrying operating losses and for-profit operators exiting entire states have driven much of that activity. Chicago-based CommonSpirit Health is selling hospitals as part of a $6 billion turnaround plan, and Renton, Wash.-based Providence is divesting assets to stabilize its finances.
The same thinking has been extended to joint ventures. Sellers in 2026 have described their exits much as they describe other divestitures: as a way to focus resources and capital on the markets where they see the most value.
That is how Brentwood, Tenn.-based Ardent Health framed its Sept. 29 agreement to sell its stake in St. Francis Campus in Topeka, Kan., to Kansas City, Kan.-based The University of Kansas Health System, which agreed to take full ownership and end a partnership that began in 2017. Ardent President and CEO Dave Caspers said the company regularly evaluates its portfolio to focus resources “where our operating model, scale and capabilities can have the greatest impact and create long-term value.”
Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems made a similar case. In February, it sold its 80% interest in Tennova Healthcare-Clarksville (Tenn.) and the freestanding Tennova ER-Sango to Nashville, Tenn.-based Vanderbilt Health, its minority partner since 2021, for $623 million. The deal was one of eight hospital divestitures CHS has completed this year, continuing a strategy that helped the company end 2025 with its lowest debt levels in more than a decade.
“Many of the hospitals we’ve divested didn’t fit into our network-of-care strategy,” CHS CEO Kevin Hammons told Becker’s in December. “Refocusing has allowed us to hone in on our core markets, where we have the full continuum of care and can truly leverage our scale.”
For the partners left behind, the result is full control. The University of Kansas Health System plans to strengthen services, expand specialties and integrate St. Francis more deeply with the rest of its system. In Pennsylvania, Bethlehem-based St. Luke’s University Health Network is taking full ownership of Geisinger St. Luke’s Hospital in Orwigsburg this year after exercising its right to buy out Danville-based Geisinger.
Earlier exits show what’s at stake
The 2026 deals echo the moves of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, which exited two Southeast joint ventures in 2024 and 2025 and raised about $4.3 billion. Trinity ended its 27-year partnership with Clearwater, Fla.-based BayCare Health System for $4 billion and sold its 49% stake in Atlanta-based St. Joseph’s Health System to Emory Healthcare for $300 million. Fitch Ratings said the proceeds would “not only strengthen Trinity Health’s balance sheet, but will also allow for more expeditious investment in community division transformation initiatives.”
The BayCare deal also shows what the buying partner can gain. CFO Janice Polo told Becker’s in September 2025 that full ownership gave the system more room to maneuver.
“Now we have a governance structure that’s 100% community,” she said. “It really sets us up to be more nimble and adjust more quickly as the market changes.”
