As for-profit Tenet Healthcare slims its hospital portfolio, it found an unlikely buyer for its Alabama hospitals: Florida’s Orlando Health.
Orlando Health draws more than $6 billion in annual revenue and has a profit margin that surpasses most of its peers. A hospital system executive system leader said crossing state lines to buy five Birmingham-area hospitals is part of its focus on serving the Southeastern U.S., even though most of its 17 existing hospitals are still in Florida.
It’s not at all surprising that a multi-billion dollar health system would have ambitions of expanding beyond its home state. That’s especially true as hospital systems continue to merge at a breakneck pace, increasingly jumping across multiple states to do so. Meanwhile, study after study concludes that hospitals use their newfound market power to drive up prices.
