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 November.
Providers
Tenet Healthcare acquired SurgCenter Development’s ambulatory surgical center business for approximately $1.2 billion, a portfolio that includes a controlling interest in 92 ambulatory surgery centers. Tenet said it plans to buy the centers’ remaining equity in the coming months and will also have the exclusive option to obtain ownership of at least 50 soon-to-come centers in the coming years.
DocGo, formerly called Ambulnz, closed its merger with special purpose acquisition company Motion Acquisition Corp. The deal implied an equity value of roughly $1.1 billion and brought $158 million in cash to the company. DocGo currently operates in 28 states and hopes to expand its mobile health business to 35 in 2022 with the new money.
Ballad Health has obtained the remaining equity of two rural Virginia hospitals: Johnston Memorial Hospital and Smyth County Community Hospital. The deal will allow Ballad to invest more than $310 million into two local foundations that previously controlled those minority stakes, which will support community health, workforce development and education in their areas.
LHC Group has wrapped up its acquisition of 47 Brookdale Health Care Services agencies from HCA Healthcare and Brookdale Senior Living. The purchase includes 23 home health locations, 11 hospitals and 13 therapy agencies across 22 states. It is expected to bring roughly $130 million in annualized revenue to LHC Group.
CommonSpirit Health disclosed in financial documents that it is “currently in discussions” to hand off ownership of 14 hospitals and other locations in North Dakota and Minnesota to an unnamed third party. CommonSpirit’s initial plan to sell the facilities to Essentia Health fell through earlier this year.
Methodist Hospital of Southern California and Keck Medicine of USC submitted a formal written notice to California’s attorney general regarding their intention to join together in 2022. The potential partners have been discussing a deal over the last 18 months and signed a letter of intent back in March. Should it receive the green light, Methodist Hospital would be rebranded as USC Arcadia Hospital.
Payers
Anthem announced it would be acquiring New York-based long-term plan Integra Managed Care for an undisclosed sum. Integra currently serves 40,000 Medicaid members, to whom it provides a dedicated care management team. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2022’s second quarter.
Zing Health Enterprises has finalized its deal to acquire Lasso Healthcare Insurance Co. The Medicare Advantage plan provider said it would 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 financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Tech
Bain Capital and Hellman & Friedman will purchase cloud-based electronic medical record provider Athenahealth for $17 billion in a deal expected to close during the first quarter of 2022, the companies announced. Athenahealth partners with more than 140,000 ambulatory care providers, throughout all 50 states and across more than 120 specialties. The private equity firms’ purchase will mark the second time in three years Athenahealth has changed ownership.
Best Buy revealed during its quarterly earnings this month it spent nearly $400 million to acquire remote patient monitoring technology vendor Current Health. The deal, announced in October and closed earlier this month, is expected to have a slightly negative impact on the company's fourth-quarter non-GAAP operating income.
Nanox wrapped up its previously announced purchase of Zebra Medical Vision in an all-stock deal valued at roughly $110 million, with an extra $84 million of stock slated upon completion of performance milestones. The medical imaging company said it would be rebranding Zebra as Nanox.AI going forward. Additionally, Nanox announced it has purchased MDWeb, a decentralized marketplace for connecting imaging facilities with radiologists, and USARAD Holdings, a teleradiology services provider, for roughly $20 million in stock plus $10 million in stock and cash for the completion of performance milestones.
Lightbeam Health Solutions, a population health management technology company, announced the acquisition of remote patient monitoring tech company CareSignal. Lightbeam said the purchase will allow it to integrate remote monitoring capabilities into its platform. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
TailorMed, a financial navigation platform for patients, announced the acquisition of Vivor, a financial assistance platform targeting providers and life science companies. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, although TailorMed said it has opened a new office in Portland, Oregon, as a result of the purchase.
Miscellaneous
Kaufman Hall acquired Healthcare Real Estate Capital, a national advisory firm focused on the healthcare and higher education real estate markets, for an undisclosed sum. The purchase will help the consulting firm advise health systems on their real estate strategies and meet the accelerating interest in these types of assets, Kaufman Hall executives said.