ScionHealth this week handed eight of its community hospitals over to Lifepoint Health, allowing the former to increase focus on its core business of specialty hospital services.
The deal between the nationwide sister systems, first announced back in March, involves acute care hospitals in Idaho, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia and Wisconsin. The facilities, which range in size from a couple dozen beds to over 100, are maintaining their current employees, providers and existing services, the organizations have said.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The deal grows Lifepoint to a network of 68 community hospital campuses, alongside its 70-plus rehabilitation and behavioral health hospitals and over 300 other care sites.
“Lifepoint is honored to welcome these eight hospitals, their employees and their communities to our diversified healthcare delivery system,” David Dill, chairman and CEO of Lifepoint, said in a statement. “We are committed to working closely with each local team to understand the unique dynamics of the communities they serve, and to explore opportunities to grow and expand access to needed services.”
ScionHealth, in its announcement, described the deal as part of “a broader effort” that will “strengthen the company’s capital structure, focus on core strategies and enhance the long-term support of the hospitals and communities it serves.” It’s now down to just six community hospitals, but 63 specialty hospitals predominantly delivering long-term acute services.
The full list of hospitals transacted from ScionHealth to Lifepoint Health are as follows:
- Bolivar Medical Center, in Cleveland, Mississippi
- Ennis Regional Medical Center, in Ennis, Texas
- Livingston Regional Hospital, in Livingston, Tennessee
- Logan Regional Medical Center, in Logan, West Virginia
- Palestine Regional Medical Center, in Palestine, Texas
- Parkview Regional Hospital, in Mexia, Texas
- St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, in Lewiston, Idaho
- Watertown Regional Medical Center, in Watertown, Wisconsin
Brentwood, Tennessee-based Lifepoint Health and Louisville, Kentucky-based ScionHealth are no strangers to swapping facilities. Both are private organizations owned by Apollo Global Management, which formed ScionHealth in 2021 from some of LifePoint’s existing assets and others gained through its acquisition of post-acute services company Kindred Healthcare.
The pair have attracted scrutiny from critics of private equity in healthcare delivery, who have contended that such ownership may jeopardize care quality and expose hospitals to financial undermining. Lifepoint Health in particular was singled out in a 2023-2024 Senate Budget Committee investigation on the issue.
(Editor’s Note: In May, Fierce Healthcare parent company Questex announced a definitive agreement to be acquired by funds managed by Apollo. The transaction is pending.)