Community Health Systems to sell hospital for $280M

Community Health Systems signed a definitive agreement to sell a North Carolina hospital to Duke Health for about $280 million.

The deal involves the 123-bed Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville, North Carolina, and related businesses. It is expected to close in the first quarter of 2025, subject to regulatory approval, according to a Wednesday news release. 

Related: Community Health Systems nixes $120M deal to sell 3 hospitals

Durham, North Carolina-based Duke said in a separate press release that if approved, the transaction would mark a significant expansion for the organization in the Tar Heel State.

Duke operates three hospitals in North Carolina as part of the Duke University Health System, in addition to the Duke University School of Medicine, Duke-NUS Medical School and Duke University School of Nursing.

The proposed sale is part of Franklin, Tennessee-headquartered CHS' plan to sell off $1 billion in facilities to improve its financial standing. The for-profit system operates 69 hospitals and more than 1,000 care sites across 15 states.

Lake Norman Regional is one of two hospitals that Winston-Salem, North Carolina-based Novant Health attempted to buy in a proposed $320 million deal. However, Novant and CHS called off the agreement in June due to regulatory pushback from the Federal Trade Commission, which sued in January to block the transaction. 

The second North Carolina hospital involved in the would-be Novant deal, Davis Regional Medical Center in Statesville, was purchased in October by Statesville-based Iredell Health System.

CHS signed a definitive agreement in November to sell Florida-based ShorePoint Health System to AdventHealth for $265 million. It scrapped a $120 million deal the same month to sell three Pennsylvania hospitals to WoodBridge Healthcare due to bond financing issues.

In August, it sold Tennova Healthcare-Cleveland in Tennessee to Vitruvian Health, formerly known as Hamilton Health Care System, for $160 million.