Community Health Systems (CHS) has inked another hospital sell-off, this time to nonprofit Freeman Health System.
The deal, announced March 5, is for a four-hospital subsidiary system called Northwest Health in Arkansas, the largest health network in that region. The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of this year, pending regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions, and will run Freeman $112 million notwithstanding the assets’ closing net working capital and assumed finance leases.
The four to-be-sold hospitals—Northwest Medical Center – Bentonville, Northwest Medical Center – Springdale, Northwest Medical Center – Willow Creek Women’s Hospital and Siloam Springs Regional Hospital—combine for 487 beds. Also included are their associated outpatient centers and practices, which together host a medical staff of more than 1,500 physicians and 2,000 employees.
The deal will double the hospital count of Joplin, Missouri-based Freeman, which has primary service areas in its home state and Kansas as well as secondary services in Oklahoma.
“This is a meaningful moment for Freeman and the communities we serve,” Freeman Health System President and CEO Matthew Fry said in a release announcing the deal. “While this marks our first expansion into Arkansas, it is a natural extension of our longstanding regional presence. Northwest Health has a long history of caring for its communities, and we are honored to continue that legacy while bringing forward Freeman’s commitment to compassionate, community-focused care.”
The deal is also the latest in a string of divestitures from CHS. The Franklin, Tennessee-based for-profit has cut down its hospital portfolio by about 35% since 2019 and currently sits at 65 owned or leased affiliate hospitals. Just in the past several weeks, that activity has included the close of a $600 million majority interest stake in Tennessee’s Tennova Healthcare – Clarksville to Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a $33 million sale of three Pennsylvania hospitals to Tenor Health Foundation and the announcement of a $450 million hospital sale to Huntsville Hospital Health System in Alabama.
CHS’ leadership, in its most recent earnings call, said the deals have helped the company turn its first cashflow-positive year in some time, deleverage its books and bankroll greater investments in its remaining hospitals. Executives acknowledged that the sell-offs were beginning to slow but teased that they were still in the “early stages of discussions” for “a couple transactions.”
Thursday’s announcement confirmed Northwest Health to be among those “additional potential divestitures” executives were teasing.
Across 2025, CHS reported about $12.5 billion of total net operating revenue, a 1.2% decrease from the prior year’s $12.63 billion but a 4.6% increase when comparing on a same-store basis. Adjusted EBITDA for the recently closed year was $1.53 billion, slightly behind 2024’s $1.54 billion. CHS, at the time, pointed to lower acuity and heightened medical specialist fees for the step back.