The Ledger

Surgery Partners just banked 797 million dollars and finished walking away from the hospital business entirely, closing a deal this newsletter has tracked since the initial agreement went into escrow in July. Surgery Partners (Nasdaq: SGRY) announced September 17, 2026 that it completed the sale of its ownership interests in Mountain View Hospital and Idaho Falls Community Hospital to Intermountain Health, receiving 797 million dollars in gross proceeds and 587 million dollars in net cash proceeds, valuing the combined Idaho Falls facilities at approximately 1.15 billion dollars, about 7 times last-12-months adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) through June 30, 2026. Surgery Partners said proceeds will go primarily toward paying down debt, improving leverage by 30 basis points from 4.4 times at the end of the second quarter, and updated its full-year 2026 guidance to 3.08 billion to 3.18 billion dollars in revenue and at least 489 million dollars in adjusted EBITDA including the transaction, versus 2.60 billion to 2.67 billion dollars in revenue and at least 414 million dollars in adjusted EBITDA on a pro forma basis excluding Idaho Falls. Chief Executive Officer Eric Evans called it a move that leaves Surgery Partners “better positioned for long-term growth as a pure-play short-stay surgical provider,” a strategic shift this newsletter first covered in August after Surgery Partners’ widening quarterly losses put its hospital assets in play. Confidence: High. This run reviewed Surgery Partners’ own press release and SEC filing directly. Sources: Surgery Partners Completes Sale of Ownership Interests in Idaho Falls Facilities to Intermountain Health, GlobeNewswire, Surgery Partners, Inc., Form 8-K, SEC EDGAR.

Hospitals nationally just posted their weakest single-month operating margin since spring, and one New Hampshire flagship system’s own numbers show exactly what that looks like inside a building. Kaufman Hall’s National Hospital Flash Report for July 2026, published this week, found the hospital sector’s operating margin fell to 1.4 percent for the month, down from 2.2 percent in both May and June, an 8 percent month-over-month decline driven by a seasonal slowdown in elective surgeries and continued payer mix erosion; bad debt and charity care rose significantly year over year, a figure trade press reporting on the underlying data put at 14 percent. Dartmouth Health, which runs Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, announced September 15, 2026 that it is laying off 124 employees and eliminating 303 open positions across its flagship academic medical center and Southern Region clinics, citing operating expenses that have grown 12 percent while insurers pay less and take longer to pay; the system posted a 52.5 million dollar operating loss and a negative 4.8 percent operating margin in the second quarter of 2026. Confidence: High on Dartmouth Health’s own disclosed figures. Medium-High on the national Kaufman Hall percentages, which this run confirmed through Kaufman Hall’s own report landing page and a trade press summary of the underlying data rather than the full downloadable report. Sources: National Hospital Flash Report: July 2026 Data, Kaufman Hall/Vizient, Hospital Margins Fell This Summer Amid Outpatient Slowdown, Data Shows, MedCity News, Dartmouth Health lays off 124, cuts 303 open positions, Becker’s Hospital Review.

A bankruptcy judge in Texas is deciding today whether to sign off on the 440 million dollar deal that closes out one of the largest pharmacy fraud judgments in recent memory. Omnicare, the CVS Health-owned long-term care pharmacy unit that filed Chapter 11 after a jury found it submitted more than 3.3 million fraudulent prescription claims between 2010 and 2018, has a Chapter 11 plan confirmation hearing scheduled for September 17, 2026 in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, the final procedural step before a settlement resolving a 948.8 million dollar False Claims Act judgment can take effect. Under the settlement, CVS pays 130 million dollars shortly after the deal becomes effective while the Department of Justice collects at least another 310 million dollars from Omnicare’s bankruptcy estate, for a combined minimum recovery of 440 million dollars; the court approved the disclosure statement and creditor voting process on August 12, 2026, setting up today’s hearing. Confidence: High on the settlement structure and hearing date, drawn from the bankruptcy court’s own hearing docket and law firm reporting on the underlying filings. Low on today’s outcome, which had not been reported as of this run. Sources: U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas, hearing docket, September 17, 2026, The Long Litigation Nears an End: Omnicare, CVS, and DOJ Reach a 440 Million Dollar Deal, Arnold & Porter.

Johnson & Johnson just told every hospital and clinic that wants a discount on its drugs to hand over patient-level claims data first, the third major drugmaker to make that demand this year. Johnson & Johnson’s new 340B policy took effect September 15, 2026 (November 3 for federal grantees), requiring the roughly tens of thousands of 340B covered entities nationwide, hospitals and community health centers, to submit pharmacy or medical claims documentation, including prescription fill dates and prescriber identification numbers, within 45 days of dispensing a covered drug, 60 days for certain oncology and autoimmune drugs, and limiting 340B discounts to one contract pharmacy within a 40-mile radius of the covered entity. Johnson & Johnson said the data collection is meant to catch prohibited duplicate discounts and drug diversion, and providers face suspension of all 340B pricing on its products after two notices of noncompliance; the policy follows similar moves by Eli Lilly, whose enforcement this summer drew hospital lawsuits and Health Resources and Services Administration scrutiny, and Novo Nordisk, while hospital groups argue drugmakers have no statutory authority to impose new reporting mandates on a program that can cut drug costs 20 to 50 percent. Confidence: High. This run relied on direct trade press reporting of Johnson & Johnson’s own policy documents. Sources: Johnson & Johnson requires providers to share claims data to get 340B discounts, Healthcare Dive.

A Central Massachusetts behavioral health provider handed off several of its programs to two nonprofits today, the latest step in a wind-down that has more than doubled its layoff count since June. Community Healthlink, a UMass Memorial Health affiliate, transitioned four Leominster programs, adult and youth mobile crisis intervention, its children’s counseling clinic and its adult counseling clinic, to Clinical and Support Options, and its Worcester community support program to Behavioral Health Network, effective September 17, 2026, according to UMass Memorial Health’s own program-update page, as part of a phased closure announced earlier this year. UMass Memorial Health has told employees all Community Healthlink staff will receive notice that their employment ends as programs move to new operators; trade press citing Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act filings put the cumulative layoff count at 231 as of this month, up from 127 in June and 78 in May, with UMass Memorial citing workforce shortages and shrinking demand alongside its effort to preserve behavioral health access through community-based partners. Confidence: Medium-High. This run relied on UMass Memorial Health’s own program-update page for today’s transition and trade press reporting of WARN filings for the cumulative layoff total. Sources: Community Healthlink Program Updates, UMass Memorial Health, Dartmouth Health lays off 124, cuts 303 open positions, Becker’s Hospital Review, Layoffs Rise To 231 At Central MA Behavioral Health Center, Worcester Patch.

THE DEAL SHEET

Target	Acquirer/Investor	Vertical	Value	Source
Mountain View Hospital and Idaho Falls Community Hospital (Surgery Partners’ ownership interests)	Intermountain Health	Acute care hospitals	$797 million gross proceeds ($587 million net cash); combined facilities valued at approximately $1.15 billion; closed September 17, 2026	GlobeNewswire
Datavant (minority stake)	Neuberger Berman and KKR, alongside continuing majority owner New Mountain Capital	Health data exchange and interoperability	Undisclosed; announced September 15, 2026, expected to close Q4 2026	PE Hub
US Fertility (continuation vehicle)	StepStone Group (lead investor), with Amulet Capital Partners and L Catterton continuing	Fertility clinics	Undisclosed; announced September 14, 2026	PE Hub
Roseville Outpatient Center	JLL Income Property Trust	Medical office building, outpatient real estate	Approximately $19 million for a roughly 42,000-square-foot Class A building; announced September 14, 2026	SEC EDGAR, Form 8-K

This run’s scan of FTC and DOJ merger actions and state transaction-review dockets found no new healthcare antitrust complaints or consent decrees in the last 24 to 48 hours; the MultiPlan/Claritev out-of-network repricing multidistrict litigation (MDL 3121) remains in discovery, with the bellwether trial date still set for December 7, 2027 and a June 2026 update confirming the underlying antitrust grand jury investigation into Claritev has closed without criminal charges. A frontier check on the state attorney general price-fixing suits against Express Scripts and Prime Therapeutics, a Ledger branch last touched September 6, found no new state joining Florida and Louisiana in the last 24 to 48 hours; worth rechecking periodically. An open-ended scan surfaced Flagler Health’s 50 million dollar Series B for its AI musculoskeletal care platform, led by Bessemer Venture Partners and announced August 11, 2026, outside this run’s freshness window; worth a full story if the company discloses a new funding or provider-network milestone.