Hospital M&A: Bigger Isn’t Always Better
That was the week that was. Two huge hospital mergers came to an end, one successfully and the other, not. In announcing the end results, CEOs involved in those deals each emphasized their goal was not about “getting bigger,” but to deliver better health care to more patients. Seriously, what CEO is going to say they just need more facilities to boost the bottom line and don’t care about patients? First, the deal that crossed the finish line. For 15 months, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health negotiated the details of the definitive agreement they signed in December 2017. The deal closed on February 1, creating one of the largest not-for-profit health systems in the country with... Read More »
Centene Corp. Buys QualChoice
Centene Corporation (NYSE: CNC) is on the move. Just days after announcing its 89% stake in a Madrid hospital, the insurer came back with a deal to buy QualChoice Health Insurance from Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), one of the largest not-for-profit hospital systems in the United States. The deal isn’t officially announced but has been acknowledged by both companies. It was reported in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette and other local newspapers on January 4 based on interviews with QualChoice CEO Randall Crow and a Centene spokesman. Both said the companies have entered into a definitive agreement on the sale and are waiting for approval from Arkansas Insurance Commissioner Allen... Read More »
The Top 10 Healthcare Deals of 2018. So Far
It’s been a busy year for healthcare deal makers, and it’s not over yet. With slightly more than 1,700 deals announced as we went to press, this year’s deal volume has already surpassed 2017’s 1,607 total. Dollar volume is on par with last year’s total of $316.3 billion. At the moment, 2018’s spend stands at $316.9 billion. We will likely see a few more big deals in the remaining weeks of December, just as in December 2017. That was the month that CVS Health (NYSE: CVS) and Aetna (NYSE: AET) announced their $77 billion tie-up, Catholic Health Initiatives and Dignity Health made their mega-merger public, Optum (NYSE: UNH) announced its $4.9 billion acquisition of DaVita Medical Group (NYSE:... Read More »