Healthcare Dealmakers—CVS Health drops $8B into home health; Trinity Health buys out MercyOne for $613M and more

Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, health tech companies, retailers 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 September.


Providers

Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health’s big-ticket merger bid briefly stumbled when an Illinois state regulatory board voted against the deal, and then subsequently rescinded the decision to await additional information from the health systems. Board members said they had concerns over the operations and controlling interests of the would-be six-state system. The organizations said they did not expect the roadblock but will work to present the requested information and still hope to hit their end-of-year target.

Trinity Health bought out CommonSpirit Health’s 50% stake of MercyOne Health System and now holds 100% ownership of the Iowa-based regional health system. Announced in April, the deal places Trinity in charge of 16 medical centers, 27 affiliate organizations and more than 420 other care sites across Chicagoland. The system recently reported in financial documents that it paid CommonSpirit $613 million in cash for the stake.

Walgreens finalized its majority stake investment in post-acute and home healthcare company CareCentrix. Operated under its consumer-centric Walgreens Health segment, the deal gives Walgreens a 55% stake in the company at an $800 million valuation with an option to raise the stake in the future. CareCentrix will continue to operate as an independent company under current leadership.

Mon Health System and Charleston Area Medical Center Health System wrapped up plans to merge and form a new system called Vandalia Health. First announced in April, the deal brings a 956-bed regional referral center to West Virginia's second-largest health system by market share.

The Jack and Nancy Dwyer Workforce Development Center, a national nonprofit healthcare training program, acquired the Regency Integrated Health Services portfolio of 50 skilled nursing facilities from Regency Integrated Health Services for $590 million from multiple owners. The portfolio includes roughly 4,400 employees and serves 4,600 residents and will transition to a nonprofit.

University of Chicago Medicine announced plans to acquire a controlling interest in four AdventHealth hospitals and other locations that, until recently, were part of the Amita Health joint venture. Financial terms of the deal expected to close in late 2022 or early 2023 were not disclosed. The facilities are spread across the western suburbs of Chicago. The deal would not impact either organization’s system-level governance or administrative structures.

Trinity Health’s MercyOne and Genesis Health System signed a letter of intent to explore a “strategic partnership.” Genesis, a six-hospital system in the Quad Cities area, had been seeking another organization to invest in its growth and workforce efforts since December. Terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

Tech

Amazon’s $3.9 billion acquisition of primary care provider One Medical is facing scrutiny from the Federal Trade Commission. Both companies disclosed in Securities and Exchange Commission filings that they had received requests from the regulator for “additional information and documentary materials … in connection with the FTC’s review of the merger.” The request extends the deal’s mandatory waiting period by 30 days.

Headspace Health, a digital mental health company, acquired the Shine mental health platform designed for BIPOC users. The app has 45,000 paid subscribers and 6 million total users and is expected to flesh out Headspace Health’s existing offering. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although co-founders and co-CEOs Marah Lidey and Naomi Hirabayashi are slated to join Headspace’s leadership team.

SOC Telemed, a specialty acute care telemedicine provider, acquired virtual behavioral health company Forefront Telecare for an undisclosed sum. Concurrent to the deal, SOC Telemed has renamed itself Access TeleCare and named Forefront Telecare as a subsidiary company handling its behavioral health business.

Prescryptive Health, a mobile health technology maker, acquired full-service, nonprofit pharmacy benefit manager Northwest Pharmacy Service. The latter’s 40,000-plus members add to Prescryptive’s market penetration in the Pacific Northwest. Terms were not disclosed.

Kyruus, a provider data management vendor, is acquiring Epion Health, a patient engagement platform for an undisclosed sum. The companies’ joint efforts will reach more than 500 health systems and medical groups, to which they’ll offer provider search, scheduling, patient check-in and payment collection tools. Epion will at least initially maintain its own brand.

UST HealthProof, a health plan technology subsidiary of UST, entered an agreement to purchase Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan subsidiary Advantasure for an undisclosed sum.

Miscellaneous

CVS Health won the bidding war for home health and technology services company Signify Health, announcing an $8 billion ($30.50 per share) cash deal expected to close in the first half of 2023. Signify's home health capabilities as well as the services offered by Caravan Health, which it recently acquired, represent significant opportunities to push toward CVS’ long-term goals, company leadership said.

Walgreens Boots Alliance will buy the remaining stake in specialty pharmacy company Shields Health Solutions for approximately $1.37 billion in a deal expected to close by the year’s end. Walgreens had previously controlled a 71% stake after spending $970 million last year. Walgreens executives said the deal represents a milestone in its consumer healthcare strategy that will increase its value to health systems and expand access to payer partners.

Nuveen Global Cities REIT, a real estate investment manager, closed a roughly $300 million purchase of a 10-building, 661,000-square-foot healthcare portfolio spread across Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Tampa and Dallas.

Kaufman Hall, a healthcare consulting advisory services firm, entered into a definitive agreement to bring Claro Healthcare in-house. The deal brings Claro’s clinical documentation, hospital operations and mid-revenue cycle improvement platform in-house and supports Kaufman Hall’s work to improve healthcare organizations. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in mid to late October, were not disclosed.