Healthcare Brew covers pharmaceutical developments, health startups, the latest tech, and how it impacts hospitals and providers to keep administrators and providers informed.

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Cassie McGrath

Healthcare Brew delivers the latest news and trends in healthcare.

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Welcome back to Signed and Scrubbed, a monthly roundup of hospital deals, developments, and bankruptcies.

We pulled together a list of provider transactions from September, including transactions from TriHealth in Cincinnati, Ohio and Hartford HealthCare in Hartford, Connecticut. Here’s the rundown.

Lebanon, New Hampshire-based Dartmouth Health signed a letter of intent on Sept. 12 to acquire 25-bed critical access center Littleton Regional Healthcare, also in New Hampshire.

Hartford HealthCare signed an agreement to acquire 249-bed Manchester Memorial Hospital and 102-bed Rockville General Hospital for $86 million from real estate investment trust Prospect Medical Properties, which is in bankruptcy proceedings, 

 On Sept. 2, Scottsdale, Arizona-based HonorHealth signed an agreement to acquire Evernorth Care Group, which has 20 care centers around the state. If the health system obtains the necessary regulatory and legal approvals, the deal is expected to close in early 2026.

Tallahassee locals Florida State University and Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare signed an agreement on Sept. 16 to turn the hospital into an academic medical center, a plan underway for a decade, according to a release.

 Cincinnati, Ohio-based TriHealth acquired its sixth acute hospital on Sept. 2: 140-bed Clinton Memorial Hospital based in Wilmington, Ohio.

Farmington, Connecticut-based UConn Health is in talks to acquire three other Connecticut hospitals: 154-bed Bristol Hospital, 104-bed Day Kimball Hospital, and 357-bed Waterbury Hospital for $400 million, according to the 

Hospital building split in half collaged with briefcase and $100 bill. Credit: Illustration: Anna Kim, Photos: Adobe Stock.

Signed and Scrubbed: September 2025 hospital M&A

TriHealth, Hartford HealthCare, and UConn Health announced M&A this month. 

Welcome back to AI 411, a monthly roundup of AI announcements from across the healthcare industry.

This month, agentic AI voice agents that can answer calls and facilitate back-office tasks, were all over the news. Here’s your September breakdown of health-related AI updates from around the industry.

On Sept. 2, Connecticut’s Hartford HealthCare selected 

Abridge’s ambient clinical intelligence platform

 for the health system after running a pilot program of the technology. The health system plans to use the company’s clinical documentation program to reduce administrative burden on clinicians.

Agentic AI company Assort Health announced Sept. 30 a $76 million Series B funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with support from investment companies Felicis, First Round Capital, Chemistry, A*, Liquid2, and Quiet Capital. The company has raised $102 million so far.

Health software company Athenahealth released the “next generation” of its electronic health record (

) platform, athenaClinicals, on Sept. 9. As part of the company’s push to release new AI tools across its portfolio, the EHR will implement personalized diagnosis information for patients and ambient note-taking for clinicians.

Venture firm Bain Capital announced Sept. 4 the completion of a merger between software companies HealthEdge and UST HealthProof. Bain purchased Boston’s HealthEdge for $2.6 billion plus debts in 2024 and has now purchased UST (financial information 

), joining the two companies under the HealthEdge name. Now, the company will establish a “single, end-to-end platform” for claims, payments, and care utilization management using AI, according to a Sept. 4 HealthEdge release.

Agentic AI company Hyro announced a new partnership with California health system Sutter Health Sept. 17. Under the partnership, Hyro’s technology will answer calls and messages to discuss scheduling, prescription management, and billing.

Agentic AI company Infinitus announced a partnership with IBM Consulting on Sept. 18. Together, the two tech companies hope to bring more agentic AI to speciality pharmacies for benefits verification and prior authorization.

On Sept. 4, AI voice company SoundHound AI announced a partnership with Ohio-based Primary Health Solutions. Under the agreement, SoundHound’s tool “Denise” will answer calls about appointment scheduling.

Agentic AI company Unity AI announced Sept. 23 an advanced version of its platform for ambulatory settings like radiology, dental, physical therapy, and behavioral health. Similar to other voice agents, its platform supports patient scheduling and patient intake.

AI mental health company Wysa acquired physical therapy company Kins on Sept. 30. While the financial information was not disclosed, Wysa will integrate its AI platform into Kins to help make care more accessible.

Healthcare Brew monthly series on AI Startups

AI 411: September 2025 

Your monthly roundup of AI announcements is here.

Maternal health has long been a challenge in rural areas, with 52.4% of 1,955 rural hospitals not offering obstetric care as of 2022, according to a 

, experts have previously told us access to birthing services is only expected to become more difficult.

New research from Carnegie Mellon University, Northwestern University, and the University of Georgia may provide more insight into why maternal care access is challenged in these areas—namely, due to mergers and acquisitions.

The study, which is a National Bureau of Economic Research 

, found that five years after rural hospitals are acquired, they are 30% less likely to provide obstetric services.

“It is very much a growing and troubling trend in rural communities,” Carrie Cochran-McClain, chief policy officer at the nonprofit National Rural Health Association, told Healthcare Brew.

 To conduct the study, researchers pulled M&A information from the American Hospital Association and data analysis firm Irving Levin Associates, and reviewed 467 M&As (317 involving at least one rural hospital) from 2006 to 2019.

There are three main reasons rural hospitals struggle to offer obstetrics care, Cochran-McClain said.

For one, Medicaid covers 47% of all births at rural hospitals, 

, and tends to reimburse providers much less than what commercial insurers do ($8,732 less on average for all deliveries, 

“They’re losing money on the obstetrics services they’re providing,” Cochran-McClain said.

 as a result, she added, noting that lower birth volumes (as fewer people live in rural areas) and low payments make it hard to pay workers and maintain the right equipment for labor and delivery services.

Last, malpractice insurance puts pressure on rural hospital providers, she said. In a 2022 report from independent watchdog the Government Accountability Office, stakeholders said the number of deliveries a provider needed to perform to offset the cost of malpractice insurance (around 100 a year) could be the total amount performed in a rural facility that year.

It’s more likely facilities that are struggling financially are “choosing to or having to” close because there are so many factors “stacked against being able to offer labor and delivery,” Cochran-McClain said.

These challenges can leave rural hospitals open to an M&A deal, too, as it’s sometimes their 

. And health systems can help the rural facility grow market share and access more patients.

There were 128 M&As of critical access centers (a federal designation for certain rural hospitals at least 35 miles from another hospital) between 2010 and 2022, according to 

 from University of Minnesota, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and University of Southern Maine researchers.

Cochran-McClain said M&As can bring increased access to equipment, 

, referral networks, and specialty care. But it also means the facilities and communities lose “independent decision-making” about what services to offer or if the hospital will even stay open.

“Obstetrics is definitely a good example of [when] the community may not have the same influence on being able to provide that service as when it was an independent,” she said.

Study: Rural hospitals are 30% less likely to offer obstetric services after acquisitions 

Rural hospitals face low reimbursement and staffing challenges. 

illustrated headshot of caroline catherman, healthcare brew reporter

Caroline Catherman

A new report calls attention to spending in a federal program that requires drugmakers to give discounts to nonprofit hospitals and clinics that treat a large proportion of low-income and uninsured patients.

On Sept. 9, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a 

 program grew an average of 19% annually, ballooning from $6.6 billion in 2010 to $43.9 billion in 2021, according to data from 90% of 50,000 participating facilities.

The report only covered data through 2021, but 340B covered entities purchased a record $66.3 billion in drugs in 2023, per the latest data available from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).

 argue these drug discounts keep them afloat and allow them to pass savings to their low-income patients, Healthcare Brew previously reported. But drug companies and lawmakers have pushed for 

, arguing the program has grown far beyond its intended purpose and some health systems may be abusing it for profit.

About one-third of that growth can be attributed to increased prescriptions of pricey specialty drugs and rising drug costs (spending on brand-name drugs grew an annual average of 4%), the report found.

The CBO thinks the remaining two-thirds can be pinned on three things: the Affordable Care Act, which expanded participation; a 2010 change in guidance that allowed hospitals to contract with more than one off-site pharmacy; and hospitals’ purchase and integration of off-site clinics.

“The largest” of those three factors is the integration of hospitals and off-site clinics like 

 or specialty medicine practices, CBO said. When a hospital acquires an outside clinic, the clinic can start purchasing drugs at 340B prices.

The number of off-site clinics in the program increased from 6,100 in 2013 to 27,700 in 2021, and the share of hospitals with off-site clinics increased from 50% to 76%, according to the CBO report.

 article pointed to nonprofit hospital chains that built satellite clinics in wealthy neighborhoods. The clinics got hefty drug discounts but were miles away from the qualifying 340B hospital.

“In CBO’s assessment, the 340B program encourages behaviors—including the prescription of more and higher-priced drugs, the expansion of services, and the integration of hospitals and offsite clinics—that tend to increase federal spending,” the report reads.

A 2022 analysis in JAMA Network Open found, however, there wasn’t a statistically significant difference between Medicare Part B drug spending between 340B hospitals and others when controlling for differences like patient demographics.

Maureen Testoni, president and CEO of lobbyist group 340B Health, pointed out the CBO’s report itself says evidence is “limited,” and critiqued its methodology.

The report “did not assess the potential costs to the government or taxpayers if 340B were reduced or eliminated,” Testoni told us via email.

Aimee Kuhlman, VP of advocacy and grassroots for the American Hospital Association (AHA), told us the report “doesn’t provide the full picture.” The program “has remained a small share of drug company revenues and has expanded access, allowing more patients to get the care they need when they need it.”

AHA research found the discounts equated to only 7% of drug companies’ US revenues in 2022.

The report comes about a month after the HRSA opened up applications for a pilot program in which, rather than just paying the discounted price, hospitals would pay the full price up front and receive a rebate from manufacturers afterward.

A map of the United States of America with a large pill on top of it with a price tag that reads $$$

Federal report suggests rising drug costs, M&A increase 340B spending

Program drug spending grew from $6.6 billion in 2010 to $43.9 billion in 2021.

This month, UnitedHealth Group officially acquired home health company Amedisys, while Franklin, Tennessee-based health system Community Health Systems (CHS) sold off more hospitals after selling or looking to sell nearly 40 hospitals in the last five years.

We pulled together a list of provider transactions from August. Here’s the rundown.

On Aug. 20, Memphis, Tennessee-based Baptist Memorial Health Care signed a definitive agreement to purchase 96-bed OCH Regional Medical Center in Starkville, Mississippi, from the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors for $55 million. The sale would mark Baptist Memorial’s 25th hospital.

CHS signed a letter of intent on Aug. 6 to sell three of its for-profit Pennsylvania hospitals valued at $120 million to nonprofit Tenor Health Foundation, which helps distressed hospitals. CHS seems to be on a selling streak, announcing the sale, or shedding, of 39 hospitals since 2020, Becker’s 

Based in Flint, Michigan, Insight has walked away from a proposed deal with Hollister, California-based Hazel Hawkins Memorial Hospital on Aug. 13 due to “unprecedented uncertainty stemming from the recently signed One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” the system said in a statement.

The 143-bed St. Luke’s Des Peres Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri, closed on Aug. 1 due to “pressures, making continued operation as an acute care facility no longer sustainable,” 

. The facility had treated patients in the area for more than 50 years.

Health giant UnitedHealth Group officially completed its acquisition of home care provider Amedisys on Aug. 14. The $3.3 billion deal faced a Department of Justice probe, and the two companies had to sell assets (164 home health and hospice facilities in 19 states) for the deal to go through.

Signed and Scrubbed: August 2025 hospital M&A

UnitedHealth officially closed its acquisition of Amedisys this month after a federal probe, plus other updates.

UnitedHealth Group has finally gotten federal approval to buy home health and hospice company Amedisys.

 of financial struggle for the vertically integrated healthcare goliath.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) sued to block the $3.3 billion buy on Nov. 12 alongside the attorneys general of Maryland, Illinois, New Jersey, and New York. They argued it would eliminate competition between the companies, two of the largest home and hospice care providers in the country.

Then-US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement at the time this “unlawful consolidation and monopolization” would threaten “vulnerable patients, their families, and healthcare workers.” The suit said that if the merger proceeded in its original form, UnitedHealth would control 30% or more of home health or hospice services in eight states.

But on Aug. 7, the DOJ proposed a settlement allowing the merger to go forward. United and Amedisys just have to sell off 164 home health and hospice locations across 19 states, which account for about $528 million in revenue—a small portion of United’s worth.

 also added provisions like appointing a monitor to ensure UnitedHealth and Amedisys stick to the plan.

United had around a $271 billion market cap as of Wednesday at 12pm ET after getting up to a nearly $600 billion market cap in April.

UnitedHealth’s Amedisys acquisition to move forward after compromise with DOJ

The DOJ had sued to block UnitedHealth from buying Amedisys in November.

This month, there were at least seven deals and closures on July 1 alone. But don’t fret, there was more news from the rest of the month as well.

We compiled noteworthy provider transactions from July. Here’s what you need to know.

Providence, Rhode Island-based physician group Anchor Medical Associates permanently closed all three of its locations on July 1, leaving a 

On July 1, St. Louis-based health system Ascension subsidiary Ascension Seton acquired 

 of Texas-based Cedar Park Regional Medical Center, a 126-bed facility, for $436 million.

. Alhambra, California-based Astrana Health acquired Los Angeles’s Prospect Health System, which includes the 177-bed Foothill Regional Medical Center, for $708 million on July 1.

Baystate Health, which has 900 beds across five hospitals, is allegedly considering acquiring 182-bed Mercy Medical Center, which would bring together the two biggest hospitals in Springfield, Massachusetts, 

Beacon Health System finalized its acquisition of Ascension Southwest Michigan on July 1, adding four hospitals to the South Bend, Indiana-based system. The hospitals include 422-bed acute care hospital Beacon Kalamazoo, 25-bed Beacon Allegan, 25-bed Beacon Dowagiac, and 43-bed Beacon Plainwell. The deal also includes 35 outpatient clinics and an ambulatory surgery center.

Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative (CVHC).

 Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin-based Chippewa Valley Health Cooperative bought the former St. Joseph’s Hospital from Hospital Sisters Health System on July 1. Now called the Chippewa Valley Cooperative Hospital, the facility will serve patients while CVHC builds a new hospital in Lake Hallie, which is set to open in the beginning of 2028.

On July 8, Hugh Chatham Health, which includes an 81-bed facility and is based in Elkin, North Carolina, announced a merger with Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist. Under the partnership, Atrium pledged a $100 million investment in Hugh Chatham Health, which has 25 locations and 70 providers.

Rockford, Illinois-based system Mercyhealth announced a “temporary suspension” of services at its main 195-bed hospital Javon Bea Hospital-Rockton on July 1.

 Bedford, New Hampshire-based SolutionHealth filed a “disaffiliation agreement” to return to two independent systems. In 2018, Manchester-based Elliot Health System and Nashua-based Southern New Hampshire Health had signed an affiliation agreement to become one health system, but 

 July 16 they’re looking to separate again.

 Bethlehem, Pennsylvania-based St. Luke’s University Health Network finalized the acquisition of its 16th hospital on July 1: the 207-bed Grand View Health in Sellersville, Pennsylvania.

 Marlton, New Jersey-based Virtua Health and Wilmington, Delaware-based ChristianaCare signed a letter of intent on July 16 to co-found a “regional not-for-profit health system” across New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Maryland. The plan would include 600 care sites and 30,000 employees.

M&A