The “Right” Merger Partner

The data for the third quarter of 2023 is in—health system merger and acquisition volume is nearing pre-pandemic levels. There were 18 transactions announced in the third quarter of this year, up from seven and ten in the same quarter of 2021 and 2022, respectively. This compares to the pre-pandemic number—when 18 transactions were announced in the third quarter of 2018 and 25 in 2019 (see M&A Quarterly Activity Report: Q3 2023).

What was different is that almost 40% of the M&A in this past quarter were driven by financial challenges. A . . .