May Day! Hospital Mega-Mergers Ahead

May Day! Hospital Mega-Mergers Ahead

Hospital merger and acquisition activity took a breather in the first quarter of this year. The 19 deals announced then represented a 17% decrease compared with the 23 deals announced in the fourth quarter of 2016, and a 30% decrease year over year. Readers who saw headlines in April regarding a rush of hospital mergers in the first quarter, according to data published by Kaufman Hall, should know our differing results are due to methodology. We do not report hospital mergers or acquisitions when the announcement involves signing a letter of intent, when many deals fall apart soon after. Our data derives from the more solid step in the process, when both entities have reached a definitive... Read More »