Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, health tech companies, payers and other industry players look to expand their businesses and gain a competitive edge. Here’s a roundup of new deals that were revealed, closed, rumored or called off during the month of December.
Providers
ChristianaCare and Virtua Health called off plans to combine. The merged entity would have comprised $6.3 billion in annual revenue from eight hospitals and more than 600 total sites of care in four eastern states.
Maimonides Health, a three-hospital Brooklyn health system, is merging with New York City's public health system, NYC Health + Hospitals. The merger is pending approvals but expected to wrap by April, and will be supported by $2.2 billion from New York state over five years.
Cencora (formerly AmerisourceBergen) announced a definitive agreement to accelerate its majority buyout of specialty practice network OneOncology, in which it already holds a stake. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2026, will run Cencora about $5 billion in cash and values OneOncology at $7.4 billion.
Aya Healthcare, a digital staffing company, and Cross Country Healthcare, a travel nursing company, nixed a proposed merger agreement citing regulatory clearance burdens. The deal was valued at about $615 million and would have diversified Aya’s tech-enabled workforce offerings nationwide.
Union Hospital has acquired HCA Healthcare’s Terre Haute Regional Hospital. The drawn-out deal, which required concessions from the organizations in order to secure a certificate of public advantage from the Indiana Department of Health, was opposed by the Federal Trade Commission and Indiana’s attorney general over market consolidation concerns.
Community Health Systems sold off ambulatory outpatient lab services and assets in 13 states to Labcorp, a deal that provided the for-profit health system with about $194 million in cash before transaction expenses. The agreement sees CHS’ patients turning to Labcorp for their ambulatory lab and testing services going forward, though inpatient and emergency department labs are still being run by CHS for hospital-based care.
Comanche County Memorial Hospital and Southwestern Medical Center, both in Lawton, Oklahoma, closed a merger to form a new health system, Memorial Health System of Southwest Oklahoma. The new entity runs 464 licensed beds.
CommonSpirit Health’s CHI St. Alexius Health Devils Lake, a 25-bed critical access hospital, will transfer to Altru Health System on March 1, the organizations announced. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
St. Luke’s University Health Network said it is exercising its option to buy out Geisinger’s share of a jointly run Pennsylvania hospital, Geisinger St. Luke’s Hospital. The pair had built and opened the hospital in 2019.
Select Medical Corporation acquired Landmark Hospital of Savannah, a 50-bed long-term acute care hospital in Georgia, from Landmark Holdings of Florida, which is undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.
Santiam Hospital and Clinics reportedly signed a nonbinding letter of intent to explore joining Salem Health. The former runs an independent 40-bed rural hospital and a dozen clinics, while the latter is a two-hospital system with a 644-bed flagship facility.
Fairfield Medical Center signed a nonbinding letter of intent regarding a potential affiliation with OhioHealth. The nonprofits said a partnership could help expand services in Southeast Ohio.
Payers
Highmark and Blue Cross and Blue Shield Kansas City unveiled plans to affiliate. The 8-million-member arrangement will see Blue Cross KC maintain its local brand and operations, but may tap into Highmark’s resources to develop new products and operational efficiencies. Blue Cross KC will also keep its financial reserves and earnings within its own organization.
UnitedHealth Group reportedly reached a deal to sell its Latin American business, Banmedica, to private equity group Patria Investments for $1 billion. The unit operates in Colombia and Chile and included 1.7 million health plan members, seven hospitals and 47 medical centers as of June.
Tech
New Mountain Capital is reportedly in talks to sell five of its health tech portfolio companies—Datavant, Swoop, Machinify, Smarter Technologies and Office Ally—in a deal led by Matt Holt, its former managing director and president of private equity. The potential deal is reportedly valued at more than $30 billion. Holt is said to be planning a consolidation of the companies into a new umbrella holding company called Thoreau, which would use health tech and AI to lower medical costs. New Mountain would retain a major equity stake.
Paradigm Health, a clinical trial software and services company, acquired Flatiron Health’s Clinical Research Business. The deal expands the former company’s network to more than 25 academic medical centers and health systems, as well as nearly 100 community oncology practices.
Sentact, a provider-facing health tech vendor, announced two acquisitions: Performance Health Partners, which makes safety event and incident management software; and the Vizient Patient Safety Organization, which is among the country’s largest patient safety information sharing group, with 332 provider participants.
Lightbeam Health Solutions, a population health management company, acquired value-based care contracting software platform Syntax Health. Financial terms were not disclosed.
MiCare Path, a virtual care platform, has acquired and integrated care management and virtual assessment provider Compwell.
Cerbo and OptiMantra, both electronic health record and practice management platforms, have merged and appointed the latter’s CEO, Jeff Hindman as their new head. The partners said their combination marries complementary expertise and technology to serve specialty clinician customers.
Enjoin, a clinical documentation improvement company in private equity firm 3 Boomerang Capital’s portfolio, acquired pediatric clinical documentation integrity and advisory services company Pediatric Resource Group for an undisclosed sum.