Novant to take over two hospital systems near Charlotte in a $320 million deal
Novant Health has signed an agreement to purchase two hospitals north of Charlotte, the healthcare provider said Tuesday afternoon.
The Winston-Salem based health care system plans to acquire Lake Norman Regional Medical Center in Mooresville and Davis Regional Medical Center in Statesville.
Novan’ts purchase offer is about $320 million, said the owner of the regional centers, Tennessee-based Community Health Systems, in a news release.
It’s the latest move in healthcare consolidation that is playing out around the Carolinas and nationally. Novant is the second biggest provider in the Charlotte region, behind longtime rival Atrium Health.
The acquisition will include related physician clinics and outpatient services from subsidiaries of Community Health Systems Inc., Novant said in a news release.
Lake Norman Regional is 123-bed acute care hospital that has served Iredell County since 1926, according to the system’s website. Davis Regional is in the process of transitioning from a general acute care hospital to an inpatient behavioral health hospital, according to its website.
The purchase will extend Novant Health’s regional delivery network to new communities and create opportunities for medical education, research and innovation, Novant CEO Carl Armato said in a statement.
The transaction — expected to close this year —requires regulatory approvals.
Novant declined to provide additional details about the deal Tuesday because “it’s early in the process.”
Novant Health expanding
Novant’s deal that it disclosed Tuesday is just the latest expansion move by the hospital system.
In December, Novant purchased more than 60 acres in Steele Creek to build a $178.5 million, 186,000-square-foot medical center with 32 beds and two operating rooms, The Charlotte Observer previously reported. The facility is expected to open in 2025.
Novant has more than 1,800 physicians and over 35,000 employees at nearly 800 locations in the Carolinas and Georgia. That includes 15 medical centers and hundreds of outpatient facilities and physician clinics, according to the company’s website.
And Community Health Systems operates 79 affiliated hospitals with 13,000 beds and more than 1,000 sites of care facilities in 16 states, according to the company. Publicly-traded Community Health is one of the nation’s largest healthcare companies.
Atrium Health expansion
In December, Charlotte-based Atrium Health completed a massive deal to double in size by combining with Midwest hospital chain Advocate Aurora Health.
The combined healthcare system, called Advocate Health, will be headquartered in Charlotte and it will serve nearly 6 million patients a year. It’s now the fifth-largest nonprofit health system in the nation.
The systems will maintain their own brand names in their respective areas.
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 5:00 PM.