By Monica E. Oss The pandemic crisis of the past year didn’t dampen merger and acquisition (M&A) activity in health care—and it could be argued that the initial economic effects of the pandemic actually fueled some of that activity. There was a high level of activity in the past year by not-for-profit hospitals and health systems—out of 19 transactions totaling $7 billion in the third quarter, 17 were acquisitions by not-for-profit hospitals and health systems (see M&A Quarterly Activity Report: Q3 2020). And in 2020, behavioral health saw a 12% decline in the number of M&A transactions but a 304% increase in the value of transactions, compared to 2019 (see Health Services Deals Insights: 2021…