Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, payers, health tech companies and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Here’s a roundup of dozens of new deals that were revealed, closed or called off during the month of June.
Provider
One Medical has entered an agreement to purchase Iora Health, a competing primary care provider, in a $2.1 billion all-stock deal. Whereas One Medical has traditionally focused on primary care for the commercially insured, Iora Health’s Medicare focus stands to expand the former’s potential market opportunity to $870 billion, One Medical said. The new partners expect the deal to close in the late third quarter or fourth quarter of 2021.
Tenet Healthcare is selling off five Florida hospitals and their associated physician practices to Steward Health Care System for about $1.1 billion. The facilities are located in the Miami-Dade and Southern Broward counties and will join three other hospitals Steward operates elsewhere in the state. Shortly after the news, real estate investment firm Medical Properties Trust also announced that it will subsequently acquire the hospitals’ real estate for $900 million and enter a sale-leaseback transaction with Steward, with the health system expected to extend that lease through 2041.
Cano Health has acquired fellow primary care provider University Health Care for $600 million. The deal significantly expands its market share in Florida with the addition of 13 facilities and more than 300 staff and affiliate providers. Word of the deal came shortly after Cano completed its merger with blank check company Jaws Acquisition Corp. (and preceded this week’s announcement of another $300 million primary care purchase).
Amedisys, a home health, hospice and personal care company, is expanding its reach with the $250 million purchase of hospital-at-home player Contessa Health. Once closed, the deal will expand Amedisys’ total addressable market for in-home care services from $44 billion to $73 billion. Contessa will be operated as a wholly owned division of Amedisys.
LifePoint Health is purchasing Kindred Healthcare’s post-acute healthcare services business in what the companies described as an effort to create a provider network capable of treating patients across the continuum of care. The purchase adds 62 long-term acute care facilities, 25 inpatient rehabilitation facilities, more than 100 acute rehabilitation facilities and two behavioral health facilities to LifePoint, which already owns and operates 87 hospitals, over 50 post-acute service providers and facilities and a few dozen outpatient facilities. The terms of the purchase were not disclosed but will be shared prior to the anticipated close in 2021’s fourth quarter.
Spectrum Health and Beaumont Health, two of Michigan’s largest providers, have signed a letter of intent to merge by this fall. The combined nonprofit system would own 22 hospitals and staff more than 64,000 employees. Together, the systems reported nearly $13 billion in total operating revenues during 2020. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Ochsner Health and Rush Health Systems announced plans for a merger that the Southern health systems expect to complete about halfway through 2022. The deal would marry Rush’s seven hospitals and 30 clinics with the larger Ochsner’s 35 hospitals. The systems said Rush’s existing medical staff would retain their privileges, employees would see minimum wages boosted to $12 per hour and patients would benefit from expanded specialty and subspecialty services.
Select Medical Corporation, one of the country’s largest post-acute care facility operators, will purchase Acuity Healthcare as part of a small handful of newly announced acquisition and joint venture deals. Set to close in the back half of 2021, the purchase will bring four long-term acute care hospitals and one satellite to Select’s collection of post-acute care facilities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
DuPage Medical Group has inked a collaboration deal with The South Bend Clinic to expand into Indiana. The two multispecialty physician groups are the largest in their respective states of Illinois and Indiana, and with the deal will “create a consistent and distinctive patient experience across both organizations.” The terms were not disclosed, although the announcement suggests The South Bend Clinic’s leadership will fall underneath DuPage’s on the partnership’s resulting org chart.
Tech-enabled primary care company Carbon Health acquired virtual diabetes management startup Steady Health. The deal will see Carbon expand Steady’s existing services to new customers while leveraging its tech platform as a springboard for device-based management of additional chronic conditions down the line. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Sentara Healthcare and Cone Health have nixed affiliation plans proposed in August of last year. The nonprofit integrated health systems’ boards described the shift as a mutual decision and cited the well-being of their respective communities as the primary reason for the decision.
The University of Oklahoma College of Medicine’s faculty practice merged with OU Medicine’s parent company University Hospitals Authority and Trust, to form the state’s first integrated academic health system. The reunited entity aims to ramp up medical research, train more clinicians and improve patients’ experience receiving care.
Payer
Anthem has wrapped up its acquisition of MMM Holding and its affiliates, which offer Medicare Advantage and Medicaid plans based in Puerto Rico. First announced in February, the deal adds 275,000 Medicare Advantage Members and 314,000 Medicaid members to Anthem’s rolls. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Zing Health Enterprises has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Lasso Healthcare Insurance Co. The Medicare Advantage plan providers’ planned deal will bring “nearly all” Lasso employees into Zing’s team and expand Zing’s reach into a total of 32 states and Washington, D.C. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Humana announced that it would purchase One Homecare Solutions from WayPoint Capital Partners in a bid to grow its value-based home healthcare offerings. The deal is expected to close in the payer’s second quarter. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed, although Humana said it does not expect the deal to have a material impact on its 2021 earnings.
Health tech
Datavant and Ciox Health are merging in a deal that will value the resulting health data ecosystem at $7 billion. The combined company will keep Datavant’s name and is expected to generate $700 million in revenue by allowing thousands of healthcare companies the ability to securely access, exchange and connect patient-level data. The merger is expected to close in the third quarter.
Babylon Health, a London-based startup offering an app-based AI diagnosis and telehealth service, announced its plans for a $4.2 billion merger with Alkuri Global Acquisition Corp., a special purpose acquisition company. The deal is expected to close during the back half of 2021 and deliver the company up to $575 million of gross proceeds, which it will use to fuel organic growth and opportunistic acquisitions.
23andMe wrapped up its merger with VG Acquisition Corp., Richard Branson’s blank check company, and debuted on the public markets with a roughly $592 million raise. The SPAC deal valued the personalized medicine and consumer genetic testing company at $3.5 billion and provides new funds to invest in its genetic and phenotypic database for at-scale personalized healthcare.
Prescription digital therapeutics developer Pear Therapeutics will be merging with blank check company Thimble Point Acquisition Corp. on its road to the public markets. The deal is expected to bring about $400 million in new funding and values the company at $1.6 billion. It is set to close later this year.
Ro will be expanding the diagnostic capabilities and lab infrastructure of its vertically integrated virtual primary care platform with the acquisition of Kit (also known as Kit.com). Reportedly valued north of $225 million, the deal allows Ro to provide at-home, self-administered testing kits and, accordingly, facilitate primary, preventive and chronic care for additional conditions.
Health Catalyst plans to acquire patient engagement platform Twistle’s equity interests for roughly $104.5 million, plus a potential earn-out of up to $65 million based on performance targets. The data analytics company hopes the deal will flesh out its population health capabilities for client organizations transitioning to value-based care models.
Virtual care platform Hims & Hers announced two acquisition deals this month, one for direct-to-consumer dermatology startup Apostrophe and the other for personalized health company Honest Health. The former is described as a chance for the company to kick-start its scaling dermatology and fulfillment capabilities, while the latter is an effort to expand its U.K. footprint. Hims & Hers did not share the terms for either purchase.
Healthcare AI company Iodine Software snapped up competitor ChartWise Medical Systems. The deal will see ChartWise’s team immediately join Iodine and expands the latter company’s hospital and health system reach to more than 800 organizations. Other terms were not disclosed.
Healthcare technology services provider CitiusTech acquired SDLC Partners to better serve health plans in search of digital transformation support. The deal brings SDLC’s 350-plus employees and subsidiary cybersecurity firm under CitiusTech’s purview and comes after substantial revenue growth across the international tech company’s payer business. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Miscellaneous
Medical equipment and supply manufacturer Medline Industries has agreed to a majority investment from private equity firm Blackstone, Carlyle and Hellman & Friedman in a deal expected to close in late 2021. Reportedly valued at about $34 billion including debt, the deal will keep Medline’s founding family as its largest single shareholder and its executive leaders. The company said these new funds will help expand its product offerings, ramp up international business and fuel infrastructure investments.
AmerisourceBergen has completed its $6.27 billion acquisition of Walgreens' Alliance Healthcare, one of Europe's largest drug wholesalers. The deal will grow AmerisourceBergen’s global distribution network while allowing Walgreens to cut down its debts and accelerate the pharmacy company’s own growth strategy.
Outpatient imaging center operator Akumin announced plans to acquire oncology and radiology services provider Alliance HealthCare Services for $820 million. The combined company would operate in 46 states with more than 1,000 hospital and health system customers, generating annual revenue of more than $730 million. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021 and will see Alliance owner Tahoe Investment Group transition to a minority ownership position.
Community hospital operator Quorum Health has sold off its advisory and outsourced services subsidiary Quorum Health Resources. Private equity firm Grant Avenue Capital now claims a majority stake in the subsidiary, with Nashville Capital Network and Brentwood Capital Advisors also announced as stakeholders. Quorum Health said the sale will provide the funds to pursue growth in existing markets and target potential acquisition opportunities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.