Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, health tech companies, payers and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Here’s a roundup of new deals that were revealed, closed, rumored or called off during the month of February.
Provider
Beaumont Health and Spectrum Health saw their merger turn official Feb. 1. The new 22-hospital integrated health system, temporarily named BHSH Health, is now the largest health system and private employer in the state of Michigan with more than 64,000 employees, over 300 outpatient locations and a 1.2 million-member health plan. The system is actively looking to fill a slew of vacant leadership positions.
Lifespan Corporation and Care New England Health System withdrew their bid to merge after the Federal Trade Commission and the attorney general of Rhode Island announced they would block the deal due to concerns of raised prices and reduced quality of care. According to the government regulators, the merger as proposed by the companies would see the joined entity control at least 70% of Rhode Island’s market for inpatient general acute care hospital services as well as at least 70% of the market for inpatient behavioral health services.
City of Hope closed its previously announced deal to acquire Cancer Treatment Centers of America. The deal yields a combined cancer research and treatment organization of 11,000 employees and nearly 600 physicians across California, Arizona, Illinois and Georgia. Reports pegged the transaction at a $390 million value.
Yale New Haven Health signed a letter of intent to acquire Connecticut health systems Waterbury HEALTH and Eastern Connecticut Health Network from Prospect Medical Holdings. The proposed deal would include three Connecticut hospitals and the health systems’ other related businesses, real estate assets, physician clinic operations and outpatient services, according to the Thursday announcement. The organizations are aiming to complete the transaction later this year, subject to regulatory approvals.
ChristianaCare Health System also signed a deal with Prospect Medical Holdings to pick up the four hospitals and other related businesses of Pennsylvania-based Crozer Health. That letter of intent outlines a transaction that, pending approvals, could be set in stone during the second quarter of 2022 and close before the end of the year.
Centura Health signed an asset purchase agreement to acquire ownership interest in two LifePoint Health community hospitals, Colorado Plains Medical Center in Fort Morgan, Colorado, and Western Plains Medical Complex in Dodge City, Kansas. The deal will bring Centura's count to 15 hospitals in Colorado and two in Kansas upon closure.
Amedisys signed an agreement to acquire Envision Healthcare’s home health division, Evolution Health. The deal is expected to close in the first half of the year and will bring the larger home health and hospice company over 650 employees providing care to more than 3,300 across 15 Texas, Oklahoma and Ohio locations. Terms were not disclosed.
Circle of Care, a home and clinic-based pediatric therapy provider, combined with clinic-based pediatric autism spectrum disorder treatment provider Empower Behavioral Health. The deal will expand Circle’s pediatric therapy services and accelerate its push as a national provider. Terms were not disclosed.
Marshfield Clinic Health System has wrapped up an affiliation agreement with Dickinson County Healthcare System, a Michigan-based single-hospital system. The arrangement will extend Marshfield’s operational support system into Dickinson’s facilities and support the construction of a new cancer center for the rural region.
Payer
UnitedHealth Group’s acquisition of Change Healthcare was hit with a complaint from the Department of Justice just days prior to the planned consummation date. The department said in a statement that the deal—valued at $8 billion in cash and $5 billion in debt—would harm competition in commercial health markets as well as the market for technology that insurers use to process claims and reduce healthcare costs.
GuideWell, parent company of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, closed its acquisition of Triple-S Management Corporation, a Puerto Rico-based health services company. Announced in September, the deal saw GuideWell purchase all of Triple-S’s shares at $36 per share in cash. The combined companies serve 46 million people across 45 states and Puerto Rico.
Tech
Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman wrapped up their $17 billion acquisition of athenahealth from Veritas Capital and Evergreen Coast Capital. With the deal, first announced in November, athenahealth’s new private equity owners said they hope to accelerate the cloud-based EHR company’s growth and new product development.
Thirty Madison and Nurx announced plans to merge their telehealth startups under the former’s brand. The goal is to offer the breadth of both companies’ virtual offerings—telehealth visits and online prescriptions for hair loss, migraines, acid reflux and allergies for Thirty Madison plus birth control and sexual health for Nurx—within a single platform. The companies did not disclose financial terms but expect the deal to close during the first half of the year.
SOC Telemed is being taken private by healthcare investment firm Patient Square Capital in a buyout deal valuing the acute care telemedicine company at $304.2 million. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of the year and saw SOC Telemed’s stock rally due to the 366% buyout premium over the previous day’s closing price.
Signify Health, a value-based care platform, acquired accountable care organization builder Caravan Health for $250 million. The combined companies contract with more than 3,200 health systems and physician group practices and 10,000 primary care physicians to cover more than 500,000 lives with approximately $10 billion total medical spend under management. Integrated together, the companies will aim to help providers manage larger populations with value-based arrangements and better coordinate care. The acquisition creates a large national network of providers including physicians, nurse practitioners and licensed social care workers that will reach more than 2 million homes this year,
Kindbody acquired Vios Fertility Institute and its network of clinics in a deal that propelled the virtual, at-home and in-person fertility services startup at $1.15 billion. The Vios acquisition will double Kindbody’s footprint, giving the company 26 clinics across the country plus some new additions to its leadership team, including a new CEO of its clinical division. Other financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Calm acquired health tech company Ripple Health Group to expand its mental health offerings. Coinciding with the announcement, the meditation app maker said it will be replacing its employer-focused Calm for Business with a new unit called Calm Health, which will focus on providing mental health care offerings across the care spectrum. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
PointClickCare Technologies announced plans to acquire Audacious Inquiry, a national connected care platform that supports care coordination by enabling data exchange between at-risk healthcare providers, care managers, payers and others value-based care partners. The deal, the terms for which were not disclosed, will help accelerate PointClickCare’s mission to address critical gaps in healthcare and enable better care for vulnerable patients.
LifeOmic, a precision medicine software company, acquired conversational platform maker Bavard for an undisclosed sum. LifeOmic said it hopes to integrate Bavard’s tech as a customer support chatbot for its website and mobile apps.
Withings acquired health and fitness app 8fit in a bid to expand the connected device maker’s portfolio of tech-enabled consumer health offerings. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
Press Ganey, a patient experience assessment firm, is acquiring multi-industry customer experience and market research technology platform Forsta for an undisclosed sum. The purchase will help Press Ganey update its offerings to customers and dip its toes into learnings from other verticals. The companies said the deal is set to close during the first half of 2022.
Tempus, a precision medicine solutions company, picked up oncology contract research organization Highline Sciences to expand its capabilities into complex clinical research. The companies did not disclose the financial details of the purchase.
H1 a tech platform that serves as a LinkedIn for the pharma and biotech industries, snapped up London-based research recommendation service Faculty Opinions for an undisclosed sum. H1 said the deal will expand its healthcare professional network and make scientific insights more accessible to accelerate research and medicine.
Job.com, a recruitment and staffing platform, acquired healthcare recruiter QCI Healthcare for an undisclosed sum. The fourth recent acquisition for Job.com, the deal will expand its presence in the healthcare sector.
Miscellaneous
Healthcare Realty Trust and Healthcare Trust of America agreed to a merger that will form a medical office real estate giant operating under the former’s name. The deal, which was leaked half a week prior to close, sees the latter company’s shareholders receiving $35.08 per share plus a special dividend. The organization will have a market capitalization of roughly $11.6 billion, while the enterprise value sits higher at $17.6 billion on the back of 727 properties and 44 million square feet of commercial leasing space, they said. Both company’s stocks were down following the formal announcement.