Dive Brief:
- Community Health Systems will sell a 153-bed hospital in Mississippi to Memorial Health System for an undisclosed sum, according to a Friday news release.
- Memorial is expected to take ownership of Merit Health Biloxi’s hospital operations, medical office building, clinics and two imaging centers during the first quarter of next year.
- Executives of the Franklin, Tennessee-based for-profit health system have said the company is hoping to glean at least $1 billion from hospital sales this year.
Dive Insight:
Memorial Health and Merit Health Biloxi have collaborated before. The health systems have shared service areas, including oncology, neurology, neuro-interventional radiology, radiology, infectious disease and cardiology, according to a press release.
Kent Nicaud, CEO and president of Memorial Health, touted the acquisition as a win for patient care in the region.
“By taking full ownership, we can provide a more consistent experience for patients and make it easier for them to access the care they need,” he said.
The deal also gets CHS one step closer to achieving its divestiture target, which analysts have called “integral” to the operator’s investment story.
CHS has had mixed success closing sales this year.
Some deals have sailed through — including an August sale of 351-bed Tennova Healthcare-Cleveland to Hamilton Health Care System for $160 million and last month’s sale of two North Carolina-based hospitals to Iredell Health System for an undisclosed sum.
In June, however, CHS’ $320 million sale of two hospitals to Novant Health fell apart amid regulatory scrutiny.
Despite some setbacks, President and CFO Kevin Hammons told investors during an earnings call last month that the provider was on track to hit its divestiture goal by the end of the year or during the first quarter of 2025.
“I still feel very good ... that we're getting and being able to get these across the finish line,” the executive said.
