Community Health Systems is selling its three Pennsylvania hospitals to WoodBridge Healthcare for $120 million.
The deal, which is expected to close in the fourth quarter, includes 186-bed Regional Hospital of Scranton, 122-bed Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton and 369-bed Wilkes-Barre General Hospital, for-profit CHS said Tuesday in a news release. Related facilities such as ambulatory surgery centers, emergency departments and outpatient rehabilitation sites are included in the sale.
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WoodBridge is a newly formed nonprofit based in New Hope, Pennsylvania, that acquires hospitals and provides them with capital.
The $120 million sale price includes a $10 million prepayment related to information technology services that can be adjusted, according to the release.
If the transaction is approved, the Pennsylvania hospitals will return to nonprofit status and maintain local board representation, WoodBridge said. The company also said it will keep current physician contracts and union agreements.
Franklin, Tennessee-based CHS, which operates 71 hospitals and more than 1,000 care sites across 15 states, has been selling facilities in multiple markets to help improve its financial standing. The system reported a second-quarter net loss of $13 million, or 10 cents per share, compared with a net loss of $38 million, or 29 cents per share, in the year-ago period.
In February, President and Chief Financial Officer Kevin Hammons told analysts on a fourth-quarter earnings call the system may sell more than $1 billion of facilities over the next few years.
CHS sold eight hospitals and its majority interest in another one in 2023. This year, it plans to sell Tennova Healthcare hospital in Tennessee to Dalton, Georgia-based Hamilton Health Care System in a $160 million transaction expected to close in the third quarter. Another $320 million deal to sell two hospitals in North Carolina fell through in June after federal regulators sued to block the deal.
