Late News: HMA buying 60% interest in three Shands hospitals

Health Management Associates agreed to pay $21.4 million to acquire a 60% interest in three rural Florida hospitals operated by Shands HealthCare, according to HMA and Shands. Shands, based in Gainesville, Fla., will retain a 40% interest. Naples, Fla.-based HMA said it expects the deal to close by July 1. Shands, a five-hospital system focused primarily on its large urban medical centers in Gainesville and Jacksonville, Fla., doesn’t have the expertise or the capital to make the other three hospitals thrive, Shands CEO Timothy Goldfarb said. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, the three hospitals’ combined annual net revenue was $98 million and combined net loss was $3.5 million, according to a bond disclosure. For the nine months ended March 31, 2010, the hospitals lost nearly $6 million. While HMA would take operational control of the hospitals, overall governance would be split 50-50, and each hospital would have a local advisory board.