Latest / Becker’s Healthcare Podcast / Healthcare M&A Accelerates as Health Systems Seek Scale with Alan Condon

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Healthcare M&A Accelerates as Health Systems Seek Scale with Alan Condon · Becker’s Healthcare Podcast

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  - The strategic agenda facing hospital and health system
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  - leaders right now is not a short list.
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  - Growth in a consolidating market, sustainable margins in
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  - a reimbursement environment that rarely moves in your
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  - favor,
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  - a tech investment cycle that demands both urgency
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  - and discipline,
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  - and a workforce story that is still being
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  - written.
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  - Eker's fourteenth annual CEO CFO roundtable brings together
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  - more than 1,500 executive level attendees and nearly
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  - 400 speakers across four days of sessions that
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  - are designed to help c suite leaders benchmark,
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  - pressure test, and sharpen their priorities.
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  - Not in the abstract, but against the real
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  - decisions they'll face heading into the next year.
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  - It's the kind of event you leave with
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  - a clear sense of where you stand and
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  - what comes next.
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  - So join us November second through the fifth
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  - at the Hyatt Regency in Chicago,
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  - and come ready to do the hard thinking.
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  - Register on our events page at beckershospitalreview.com
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  - by clicking on the events tab in the
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  - upper right.
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  - This is Scott Becker with the Beckers Health
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  - Care Podcast.
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  - Thrilled today to be joined by brilliant leader,
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  - editor in chief, Alan Condon, and Alan is
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  - fantastic.
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  - Alan, we're gonna ask you to share with
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  - us a couple of the stories you're watching
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  - today.
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  - What's top of mind? What are you watching
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  - closely?
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  - Yeah. Great to be back on with you,
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  - Scott.
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  - I think I'd love to kinda just touch
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  - on really quickly a couple of
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  - deals, a lot of movement we've seen in
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  - terms of merger and acquisitions, and then spend
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  - just a little time talking about some big
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  - capital projects in North Carolina. But just a
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  - a quick couple of updates at the top
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  - of the podcast in terms of some big
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  - mergers acquisitions that we just covered over the
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  - last couple days. I think first and foremost,
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  - this is one we've been watching for quite
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  - some time, and that's in the Pacific Northwest.
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  - That's, in Oregon. We have Samaritan Health Services,
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  - five hospital system, significant physician
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  - physicians at this, this health system that has
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  - multiple health plans as well,
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  - just received approval from from the state of
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  - Oregon to pursue,
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  - almost close its merger with MultiCare Health System.
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  - That's,
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  - I believe a 13 hospital health system headquartered
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  - in Tacoma, Washington.
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  - This has been on the radar for quite
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  - some time. I believe that thirteen, fourteen months
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  - in the making.
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  - Looking at around about an October 1,
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  - expected
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  - closing date after they've cleared just a couple
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  - more legal administrative hurdles to get over the
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  - line and out of the way. But, essentially,
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  - this this deal will create
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  - a 18 hospital combined system across multiple states,
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  - 32,000
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  - employees,
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  - about 400 outpatient care sites between those two
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  - systems.
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  - And
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  - very, very importantly
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  - for MultiCare, which I believe is a big,
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  - big driver for this deal, is those health
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  - plans under the Samaritan Health Service would come
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  - under MultiCare.
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  - We we do know that the the challenges
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  - in in the Pacific Northwest,
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  - specifically as it relates to health plans. We
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  - saw Providence, of course, just winding down its
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  - own. Providence Health Plan, Potentially a big gap
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  - in the market for Samaritan and MultiCare here
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  - to maybe expand and grow there. So really,
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  - really interesting deal to watch and expected
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  - to close,
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  - pending some regulatory and administrative deals expected to
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  - close on October 1. So just a couple
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  - months down the line. So interesting deal to
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  - watch.
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  - Yeah. When are you seeing an uptick in
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  - mergers and acquisitions and alliances, or or what
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  - are you seeing currently?
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  - I think certainly just looking at at not
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  - even anecdotally, but also looking at what we've
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  - seen in q one and q two,
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  - especially in the q three as well. As
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  - you as you pay attention to reports coming
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  - out of the likes of Kaufman Hall, also
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  - just in terms of speaking with CFOs,
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  - on a week to week basis, CEOs and
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  - CFOs,
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  - certainly more of an appetite
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  - to explore some of these mergers,
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  - acquisitions,
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  - strategic affiliations,
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  - joint ventures. We're certainly seeing a massive massive,
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  - massive uptick this year
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  - as opposed to years gone by. And likely
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  - no doubt that has been driven by a
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  - lot of the challenges that health systems currently
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  - face, but also,
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  - health systems keeping an eye on what's coming
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  - down the pipeline in 2027.
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  - When they look at the the bigger impacts,
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  - knockdown effects from h r one, Medicaid redeterminations,
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  - the the follow from the ACA expire expiration
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  - of those enhanced subsidies as well, more and
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  - more hospitals and health systems, specifically
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  - on the independent side, are really looking to
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  - to partner up with larger partners.
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  - And that's one big deal that we're certainly
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  - just paid to pay close attention to there.
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  - I think
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  - we're also seeing on the you know, larger
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  - systems are growing bigger. We're seeing the likes
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  - of Bon Mercy Health. They're snapping up the
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  - one one potential hospital in Virginia.
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  - From LifePoint Health, the recent deal we also
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  - covered. LifePoint,
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  - in a little bit of a portfolio restructuring,
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  - it seems it seems like at the moment,
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  - they recently sold.
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  - Excuse me. They their plan to sell this
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  - one hospital in Virginia to bond secure Mercy
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  - Health, but they also acquired quite recently eight
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  - hospitals just a couple months ago in multiple
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  - states,
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  - from Scion Health, which, of course,
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  - headquartered in Kentucky. So there's deals going on
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  - left, right, and center. No matter whether you're
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  - a large nonprofit system, you're a for profit
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  - system,
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  - small independent systems, we're seeing a significant uptick
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  - uptick across the board in m and a
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  - activity.
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  - No doubt, like I said, Scott, driven with
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  - a lot of these financial challenges and the
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  - need for scale and and economies of scale
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  - with vendors, with payers.
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  - Scale seems to be the name of the
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  - game as a as as as health system
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  - CEOs and CFOs looks to get ahead of
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  - some of these challenges.
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  - Thank you so much. Alan, so much interesting
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  - stuff going on. I appreciate it. As always,
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  - you joining us, it's always fantastic.
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  - Thank you very much for being with us
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  - on the Becker's Healthcare podcast
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  - and more so for the tremendous job you
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  - do helping the weed editorial team at Becker's
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  - Healthcare. I've been at this for thirty years.
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  - The editorial team is doing a better job
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  - than it's ever done. Thank you so much
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  - for what you do.
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  - I praise indeed. Thank you so, so much,
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  - Scott, and very much reciprocal. Thank you.
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  - And for my our audience, so we don't
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  - age myself, when I say I've been at
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  - it thirty years,
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  - it's because I started at 12 years old.
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  - No. I'm kidding. Thank you, Alan. Thank you
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  - so much for joining us, Chanel. Thank you
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  - for all your work as always. Thank you,
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  - folks, both, so much. Thank you. Thank
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  - you both.