Community Health Systems has found a buyer for its 125-bed Stringfellow Memorial Hospital in Anniston, Ala., the 16th hospital that it has agreed to divest since beginning a restructuring last year.
The Health Care Authority of the City of Anniston has agreed to pay $25 million, including the assumption of a $13 million facility lease, CHS said in a release Friday.
The deal is expected to be completed in the second quarter of 2017 subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions, CHS said.
CHS, the nation's second-largest investor-owned hospital company, is in negotiations to sell a total of 25 hospitals, with 16 now named and nine others at the letter of intent stage.
The Franklin, Tenn.-based company expects net proceeds of $1.8 billion from its asset divestitures, including the sale of an 80% interest in its home health business.
CHS is selling assets to pay down a $15 billion debt load, one of the highest in the industry.
The 25 hospitals being sold represent about $3 billion in annual revenue.
CHS finished a dismal 2016 on an upbeat note in the fourth quarter as turnaround efforts began to take hold at the 133 hospitals that CHS will keep after the 25 are sold.
After posting losses throughout 2016 and missing earnings guidance, CHS achieved guidance in the fourth quarter with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of $564 million, compared with $527 million in the prior-year period.
