Children's Hospital of Orange County and Rady Children's Hospital San Diego announced a merger Wednesday, combining the two hospitals into a system called Rady Children's Health. The merger went through a process requiring approval by the California AG among other regulatory hurdles and was finalized on Dec. 31, 2024. CHOC and Rady's announced intentions to merge in late 2023.
Four months after the Nashoba Valley Medical Center in North Central Massachusetts shuttered, emergency medical services in the surrounding communities are "on the verge of collapse," 13 local fire chiefs wrote in a recent letter to the state. The letter, sent Dec. 27 from the chiefs, their towns' leaders, and state lawmakers, urged Governor Maura Healey's administration to include in the state's budget proposals $9.6 million over the next two fiscal years to increase emergency response staffing and sustain overtime pay. The increasingly dire situation described in the letter highlights the continuing impact of the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care, the for-profit company that closed both the Nashoba Valley hospital in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Dorchester on Aug. 31, while in the process of selling its other Massachusetts hospitals to new operators.
Central Maine Healthcare has entered into an agreement to be purchased by the California-based non profit Prime Healthcare Foundation. Under the deal, still pending regulatory review, Prime will invest $150 million in Central Maine Healthcare.
Transcarent CEO Glen Tullman spent much of 2024 hinting that his health benefits upstart might be shopping around for acquisitions, and just over a week into the new year, he’s making good on it: Transcarent on Wednesday announced it will buy Accolade, another benefits company, for $621 million — more than double Accolade’s value on the stock market the day before.
The 162-page report by the Senate Budget Committee comes as Americans continue to express outrage over the role of corporations in the U.S. healthcare system, following the December killing of the CEO of the nation's largest health insurer. And its findings add to a chorus of lawmakers trying to address the detrimental impact of private equity ownership on critical U.S. hospitals.