Capella inks Arkansas deal

Franklin-based Capella Healthcare says it has signed an agreement to buy an Arkansas health system with which one of its facilities has been competing. Under terms of the preliminary deal, Capella will take on ownership of St. Joseph's Mercy in Hot Springs, one of the 31 hospitals in the Mercy Health Systems, the country's eighth-largest Catholic health organization. St. Joseph's has 282 beds and owns an 80-doctor clinic system as well as cancer and trauma centers. According to the American Hospital Directory, the system posted a profit of about $2 million in 2010 on revenues of more than $640 million.