Western Maryland Health Joins UPMC

Western Maryland Health Joins UPMC

Western Maryland Health System (WMHS) has officially joined Pittsburgh-based UPMC. Western Maryland operates the Western Maryland Regional Medical Center (200 licensed beds) and serves the residents of Cumberland, Maryland and surrounding counties in Maryland, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The deal culminates a relationship between the organizations that began in 2018 with a clinical affiliation. In March 2019, both boards signed a non-binding letter of intent to negotiate an affiliation agreement. The merger was finalized on February 1 and the system was renamed UPMC Western Maryland. The board of UPMC Western Maryland consists of 12 directors, with 8 appointed by the current WMHS board... Read More »
Hot Healthcare Sectors for Investment, Growth & Consolidation in 2020

Hot Healthcare Sectors for Investment, Growth & Consolidation in 2020

Every year, starting in November, the crystal balls come out and the prognostications begin. What will the new year bring? Who or what will make out better and who or what will not? We talked with Gary Herschman, a member of Epstein Becker Green’s Healthcare and Life Sciences practice, about the healthcare sectors he and his firm are watching in 2020. Here are their predictions for 2020. Health Care M&A: What do you see as the biggest themes in the healthcare industry this year? There are a lot of moving parts, from the discovery of new drugs to the shifting attention to post-acute care. Gary Herschman: We see three key “drivers” of health industry transformation that are already... Read More »
Feeling Distressed? You’re Not Alone

Feeling Distressed? You’re Not Alone

For the past two years, the volume of healthcare deals has soared to new heights. Much of the growth has been powered by financial buyers, private equity firms in particular, piling into the healthcare services sectors. In 2018, a new record for annual deal volume was hit, now standing at 1,917. The services sectors accounted for 65% (1,242 deals), slightly higher than the typical 60% to 62%. Last year’s total deal tally now stands at 1,824 transactions, the second highest total ever recorded, and 70% of that comes from healthcare services deals. Why, then, have Chapter 11 bankruptcy filings among the services sectors spiked along with that activity? Since the second quarter of 2017, the... Read More »
Saga Continues for St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children

Saga Continues for St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children

Where there’s a hospital or health system filing for bankruptcy protection, there’s usually a sale in the offing that involves a real estate investment trust. That’s the most recent twist in the story of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children, which we first reported in September 2019. The 188-bed hospital, a critical safety-net hospital for children in North Philadelphia, and Hahnemann University Hospital were sold in September 2018 to California investment banker Joel Freedman, head of American Academic Health System, LLC (AAHS), for $170 million. Hahnemann’s financial troubles prompted Freedman to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for both hospitals on... Read More »

Hospital M&A Outlook

The Hospital sector ended 2019 with 80 transactions in the United States reaching the definitive agreement stage or closing. All told, 99 hospital deals are on the books for the year, which is a 25% increase over 2018’s 79 hospital deals. For the fourth quarter of 2019, 23 transactions reached the definitive agreement stage or closing. That was a 21% decline from the third quarter’s 29 deals, but a 10% gain over the same quarter in 2018. What’s ahead for the Hospital sector in 2020? More of the same, meaning that consolidation among strong regional health systems will continue the trend that began a few years ago. Small standalone hospitals will still push to join a... Read More »
2019’s Biggest Healthcare Deals, by Sector

2019’s Biggest Healthcare Deals, by Sector

2020 has just begun, which means it’s time to look back at the healthcare M&A landscape of 2019. Just three days into the new year, nearly 1,780 deals are already on the books for 2019. More deals will turn up as we search our many sources, but the number likely won’t top the record of 1,900-plus set in 2018. Thanks to the multi-billion-dollar deals announced in the Biotech and Pharmaceutical sectors, 2019 will set a new spending record. Preliminary data show $399.1 billion was spent on healthcare acquisitions last year, about 20% higher than in 2018. We expect that number to rise as we go through the year and the 10Ks and quarterly reports come out. It’s possible the... Read More »