Dive Brief:
- Pittsburgh-based UPMC is expanding into Ohio for the first time, purchasing a health system in the state from CommonSpirit Health as the not-for-profit giant continues to shed hospital facilities.
- UPMC and CommonSpirit have signed a definitive agreement to transfer ownership of Trinity Health System, which operates four hospitals and a network of clinics in the Ohio Valley, to UPMC, according to a Monday press release.
- The deal is expected to close this fall pending regulatory review and other closing conditions. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Dive Insight:
The transaction has been in the works since early 2025, when CommonSpirit and Trinity began searching for a buyer before landing on UPMC, which has collaborated with Trinity on clinical initiatives in the region for more than two decades.
UPMC and CommonSpirit signed a nonbinding letter of intent to transfer ownership of Trinity in October.
The deal, which includes Trinity’s hospitals — Trinity West and Trinity East in Steubenville, Ohio; Trinity St. Clairsville Neighborhood Hospital; and Trinity Twin City Medical Center in Dennison, Ohio — will allow UPMC to expand into the Midwest from its foothold in the mid-Atlantic.
Currently, the system operates more than 40 hospitals and 800 outpatient sites across Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland.
Unlike UPMC, which is growing its acute and specialty care footprint, CommonSpirit, one of the nation’s largest nonprofit health systems with 158 hospitals across 24 states, is shedding assets as part of a multiyear turnaround plan.
CommonSpirit operated at a loss last year despite some signs of improvement as 2025 drew to a close, including growing patient volumes, aggressively pursuing unpaid claims with insurers and curbing the cost of doing business.
The system sold a 25-bed critical access hospital in North Dakota in early March, and is pursuing deals to sell three additional hospitals in the state.
And in February, CommonSpirit sold its stake in revenue cycle management business Conifer Health Solutions back to majority owner Tenet Healthcare.
