Community Health Systems, which has been shedding hospitals at a breakneck pace this year to pay off its debt, will be dumping two more facilities: Yakima Regional Medical and Cardiac Center and Toppenish Community Hospital, both in Washington.
The hospitals are being sold for about $45 million, "including working capital," according to an announcement by CHS. The sale is expected to be finalized in the second quarter of 2017, pending regulatory approval. Sunnyside Community Hospital and Clinics will be buying the hospitals from a CHS subsidiary.
"We are making progress with our strategic objective to divest a number of properties to focus on a more sustainable portfolio of hospitals and networks for the future," said CHS chairman and CEO Wayne T. Smith in a statement.
CHS already had 17 hospitals on the block as of November. In a call with investors this autumn, Smith said the company expected to raise $1.2 billion through the sale of its hospitals and other assets.
[Also: Community Health Systems subsidiary to sell Rockwood Health in Spokane]
The system has been struggling since 2014, when it went forward with a $7.3 billion acquisition of Health Management Associates. Patient volumes at former HMA hospitals have been on the downturn, and the resultant increase in doctor recruitment has strained the company's resources.
In October, CHS announced it will sell an 80 percent ownership interest in its home health division to regional provider Almost Family for $128 million.
CHS netted $1.2 billion from its spinoff of nearly 40 small or rural hospitals earlier this year, but that transaction is now under legal scrutiny, after a class-action lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee on behalf of those that purchased the common stock of CHS spin-off Quorum Health Corp.
[Also: Community Health Systems ups number of hospitals to divest to 17, CEO says]
The complaint alleges that Quorum and certain of its executive officers made false and misleading statements, and/or failed to disclose to investors that many of Quorum's hospitals were underperforming at the time of the spin-off, as well as other "indicators of impairment" that were present at the time. It also alleges Quorum failed to inform investors about the issues, rendering Quorum's public statements "materially false and misleading."
Twitter: @JELagasse