Healthcare mergers and acquisitions are in no short supply as providers, health tech companies, retailers 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 March.

Providers

Ascension Illinois executed on March 1 its $370 million-plus deal to hand off eight hospitals and other assets to Prime Healthcare. The deal announced last summer had originally included a ninth hospital, though that facility was shut down in January. Prime said it will be maintaining charity care programs and highlighted the $250 million investment commitment it made at the deal's outset, which is slated to support facility upgrades, capital improvements, technology investments and system upgrades.

Community Health Systems wrapped up its $260 million sale of two Florida hospitals and their related businesses to AdventHealth. The transaction was entered on Nov. 22 and became effective March 1. The two hospitals are ShorePoint Health-Port Charlotte, a 254-bed facility renamed AdventHealth Port Charlotte, and ShorePoint Health-Punta Gorda, which indefinitely paused inpatient operations last fall due to hurricane damages. AdventHealth said at deal close that it has not yet determined whether it will repair the damages and restart services.

Essential Health, University of Minnesota and Fairview Health Services’ three-way talks on a potential new nonprofit care organization have been fraught, leading Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to step in and direct mediated negotiations between the parties. The proposed organization, announced in January, would remake the region’s academic care delivery with a five-year, $1 billion investment. Fairview, which has an expiring arrangement with the university, has so far been resistant.

Deaconess Health System has inked a definitive agreement to affiliate Jennie Stuart Health by or before Aug. 1. The transaction will see Jennie Stuart, a southwestern Kentucky and north central Tennessee system with a single acute care hospital plus other outpatient ancillary service locations, become an operating subsidiary of Indiana-based Deaconess. The announcement comes with a pledge to invest at least $95 million in Jennie Stuart and full funding of its transition to Deaconess’ EHR platform. 

NYU Langone Hospital has added Long Island Community Hospital to its collection. The merger, announced near the top of the month, builds on an affiliation the 306-bed hospital had with NYU Langone Hospital since March 2022, during which the system financed several investments. The facility has been rebranded as NYU Langone Hospital—Suffolk and is the system’s seventh inpatient hospital.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System acquired Doylestown Health on April 1, the organizations announced in late March. The deal, which follows state and federal regulatory approvals and includes the regional health system’s 245-bed teaching hospital, will see Doylestown and its affiliates rebranded as Penn Medicine Doylestown Health. Penn Medicine now has seven hospitals in its network.

The Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative, an independent Wisconsin nonprofit, has inked a purchase agreement with Hospital Sisters Health System to purchase the St. Joseph’s Hospital building for an undisclosed sum. The agreement is part of a plan to provide care services on an interim basis after the hospital was closed last year and access to care in the region was diminished. While the cooperative is working to build a “new sustainable, future-forward hospital,” it also will spend a 90-day due diligence period determining whether reopening St. Joseph’s is financial feasible and, if so, could open the campus “as early as winter 2025.”

Tower Health sold off its 171-bed Brandywine Hospital, which had closed in December 2021, to Mill Farm LLC, a subsidiary of real estate firm Regal Builders. Though no plans are in place yet for the property, the deal helps bolster Tower’s liquidity and broader financial posture. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Union Health and HCA Healthcare’s Terre Haute Regional Hospital are facing opposition on their second attempt at a merger. As they seek a certificate of public advantage, the Federal Trade Commission and others have filed letters with state regulators urging against the deal, which they said would hurt competition and does not appear necessary to preserve access to care.

North Mississippi Health Services will begin operating Northwest Regional Health as one of its affiliated hospitals as part of a long-term agreement signed by the organizations. The Winfield, Alabama, facility will be the second North Mississippi Health Services will run in Marion County.

Payers

Cigna has wrapped up the $3.3 billion sale of its Medicare Advantage, Part D, supplemental benefits and CareAllies units to Health Care Service Corporation. Cigna said that it plans to deploy the capital from the sale across multiple priorities, though the majority is likely to go toward stock repurchases. Cigna will also continue to provide pharmacy benefit management and other services through its Evernorth division, as part of an agreement with HCSC.

CVS Health is selling its Medicare Shared Savings Program business, under the CVS Accountable Care umbrella, to value-based care company Wellvana. The deal is an all-stock transaction that will leave CVS Health with a minority stake in Wellvana, though other terms and the total sum were not disclosed. The deal comes as CVS Health works to cut its costs within value-based care.

CareSource is looking to acquire ElderServe Health, the long-term care arm of RiverSpring Living that services over 20,000 adults, predominantly dual-eligibles, in New York City and some surrounding counties. The nonprofit managed care organization said the deal will strengthen the support services ElderServe is able to provide. Terms were not disclosed.

Tech

Roper Technologies, which invests in niche technology businesses, signed a definitive agreement to acquire CentralReach, a maker of autism and intellectual and developmental disabilities software for therapists, for a net purchase price of $1.65 billion inclusive of a $200 million tax benefit. CentralReach counts more than 200,000 users among its offerings and is expected to contribute about $175 million of revenue to its new parent company over a 12-month period. The deal is expected to close in April or May.

Dispatch Health and Medically Home, both telehealth and hospital-at-home players, announced plans to merge. The resulting entity will maintain the DispatchHealth name and care for patients in 50 major metropolitan areas plus ties to 40 health systems and most major health plans and value-based care entities. Terms of the deal, expected to close midyear, were not disclosed.

The American Telemedicine Association’s advocacy arm, ATA Action, has acquired the Digital Therapeutics Alliance, which seeks to guide policymaking concerning digital therapeutics. The arrangement will see the alliance’s members, leadership team and staff plus it resources and tasks groups integrated into ATA Action. The organization says the addition of the DTA will provide a unified front on their advocacy efforts, including those related to regulatory activities. 

Medalogix and Focura, both technology providers targeting the post-acute care market, have merged to form a combined platform “to streamline patient care transitions, simplify collaboration with the broader care team, optimize utilization and resource allocation, and improve end-of-life care management.” Berkshire Partners will be the combined entity’s majority owner with the Vistria Group as the largest minority shareholder.

CareCloud, a healthcare software company with 40,000 provider customers, announced in early March its acquisition of healthcare billing firm Mesa. Terms were not disclosed.

Tempus AI, a precision medicine AI firm, acquired healthcare and life sciences research platform Deep 6 AI. Tempus said the deal will complement its current efforts and broadens the reach of its platform. Terms were not disclosed.

AvaSure, a virtual care company with AI capabilities, acquired Nurse Disrupted, a virtual nursing platform for hospital- and home-based settings. Terms were not disclosed.

VisiQuate, a revenue cycle management AI vendor, acquired digital assistant platform Rotera for an undisclosed sum. VisiQuate said it’s interest in leveraging Rotera’s “deep automation expertise” with its intelligence suite, Ana. Terms were not disclosed.

Knack RCM, an end-to-end revenue cycle management services company, acquired anesthesia-focused RCM provider PPM Partners. Terms were not disclosed.

CoachCare, a remote patient monitoring and virtual care company, acquired fellow remote patient monitoring company VitalTech for an undisclosed sum. It’s CoachCare’s eighth pickup since 2023.

RLDatix, a safety, workforce and data support technology company serving health systems, acquired IT data accessibility company IPeople Healthcare. Terms were not disclosed.

Miscellaneous

Walgreens Boots Alliance has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by private equity firm Sycamore Partners. The agreement prices Walgreens’ shares at $11.45 each, an equity value of about $10 billion that Walgreens clocked at as much as $23.7 billion when accounting for debt and future payouts. Speculation had swirled for weeks that Sycamore was eyeing the struggling retail pharmacy chain.

The Doctors Company, one of the country’s largest physician-owned medical malpractice insurers, is looking to take specialty medical insurer ProAssurance private in a $1.3 billion deal. The proposed arrangement will see ProAssurance stockholders receiving $25 in cash per share. The combined company will have assets of approximately $12 billion. The board of directors of ProAssurance has unanimously approved the transaction, which is expected to close in the first half of 2026.

Labcorp will be spending up to $225 million to acquire the oncology lab testing business and other assets of OPKO Health subsidiary BioReference Health. The transacted assets currently bring in around $85 million to $100 million in annual revenue, according to the announcement. The deal is expected to close in the back half of the year pending regulatory approvals.