Hills & Dales Healthcare, based in Cass City, Mich., and UnitedHealthcare Partners, based in Marlette, Mich., have joined forces to create a three-hospital system. 

Gunnison (Colo.) Valley Health is in talks with Vail-Summit Orthopaedics and Neurosurgery to acquire ownership of several of its locations, a spokesperson for the physician group told Becker's. 

Duluth, Minn.-based Essentia Health and Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System have ended efforts to combine into a 25-hospital regional health system. 

Being part of a regional healthcare system will give Fort Payne, Ala.-based DeKalb Regional Medical Center access to local resources it does not have, Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital Health System CEO Jeff Samz told al.com in a Jan. 4 report.

The year is off to a busy start in Missouri healthcare, with three health system partnerships closing in two days. 

Columbia-based University of Missouri Health Care and Jefferson City, Mo.-based Capital Region Medical Center have completed their integration, with both health systems unified under the one brand: MU Health Care. 

Huntsville (Ala.) Hospital Health System plans to acquire DeKalb Regional Medical Center, a 134-bed hospital in Fort Payne, al.com reported Jan. 2.

SoutheastHealth — a Cape Girardeau, Mo.-based system including two hospitals, a behavioral health hospital and 48 clinics — is now part of St. Louis-based Mercy. 

Beckley, W.Va.-based Carl Larson Cancer Center has officially joined Vandalia Health to provide more procedure capacity and expand available services to the community, according to a Charleston (W.Va.) Area Medical Center release shared with Becker's. 

St. Louis-based BJC HealthCare and Kansas City, Mo.-based Saint Luke's Health System — which signed a letter of intent to combine in May — have finalized their transaction to merge. 

The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department have ramped up antitrust enforcement against mergers and acquisitions across various industries, including healthcare, since Lina Khan, 34, was appointed FTC chair, a position she will hold until Sept. 25, 2024. 

It was a busy year for health system transactions, as organizations — 18 in the third quarter alone — joined forces to weather financial challenges. 

The Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department filed 50 merger enforcement actions in fiscal year 2022 — the highest level of enforcement activity in more than 20 years. 

The year is coming to a close, but not without one last flurry of healthcare mergers and acquisition news, including two major announcements made Dec. 19. 

After years of collaboration, Rady Children's Hospital-San Diego and Orange, Calif.-based Children's Hospital of Orange County plan to merge and form a single parent entity called Rady Children's Health. 

Milford (Mass.) Regional Medical Center and Worcester-based UMass Memorial Health are aiming to have their new affiliation completed by fall 2024, Milford Daily News reported Dec. 18.

The number of hospital mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures, affiliations or partnerships that were unwound or abandoned in 2023 sits in the double digits. 

Milwaukee-based Froedtert and Neenah, Wis.-based ThedaCare have finalized their merger agreement and will launch as a combined 18-hospital system Jan. 1. 

Pennsylvania health systems Jefferson and Lehigh Valley Health Network have signed a non-binding letter of intent to combine.

The Centurion Foundation's plan to buy CharterCare Health Partners from Los Angeles-based Prospect Medical Holdings, a 16-hospital system, is now being reviewed by the Rhode Island attorney general and state department of health.