Health Management Associates, Inc., has acquired a 60 percent controlling interest in three Shands HealthCare hospitals in Florida: Shands Lake Shore in Lake City, Shands Live Oak in Live Oak and Shands Starke in Starke.
Combined, the three hospitals operate 139 beds and generate approximately $100 million of annual net revenue. Health Management’s purchase price for its 60 percent controlling interest was approximately $21.5 million.
Shands HealthCare, which is affiliated with the University of Florida Health Science Center in Gainesville, Fla., will retain a 40 percent ownership interest in each hospital. Shands currently operates two academic medical centers, three community hospitals and two specialty hospitals.
“We are very excited to welcome these three facilities into the Health Management family of hospitals,” said Gary D. Newsome, president and CEO of Naples, Fla.-based HMA. “Health Management’s expertise is in the operation of non-urban community hospitals. We believe these three hospitals offer us the opportunity to apply our proven operating initiatives in the emergency room, physician recruitment and market service development to improve efficiency, quality and access to care.”
Through its subsidiaries, HMA operates 58 hospitals, with approximately 8,500 licensed beds, in non-urban communities throughout the United States.