Ardent Health kicked off the new year with an acquisition. The Nashville, Tennessee-based health system announced on January 3 that it has acquired 18 urgent care clinics across New Mexico and Oklahoma from Mesa, Arizona-based NextCare Urgent Care.
Ardent Health, backed by Chicago-based private equity firm Equity Group Investments, is a leading healthcare provider in growing mid-sized urban communities across the United States. Through its subsidiaries, the company delivers care through a system of 30 acute care hospitals and more than 200 sites of care with more than 1,800 affiliated providers across six states.
The six New Mexico urgent care clinics will operate as part of Lovelace Health System, while the 12 Oklahoma clinics will become part of Hillcrest HealthCare System. The acquisition significantly expands Ardent Health’s ambulatory operations in both markets.
Through its subsidiaries, Ardent Health currently operates five hospitals and 25 sites of care in New Mexico, and eight hospitals and 57 sites of care in Oklahoma. The purchase follows Ardent Health’s acquisition of nine additional urgent care centers in its East Texas and Topeka, Kansas markets in 2024. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
According to data in the LevinPro HC database, this transaction marks the first urgent care deal of 2024. There were 18 deals announced in the urgent care specialty during 2024, a 29% increase over 2023 when 14 urgent care deals were announced, yet a 22% decrease from 2022 when 23 urgent care deals were announced.
