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Two major Midwestern hospital systems plan to merge, according to executives involved in the deal, creating another regional giant as the nation’s $1 trillion hospital sector continues to consolidate. Sanford Health, based in Sioux Falls, S.D., and UnityPoint Health, based in Des Moines, Iowa, on Thursday signed a letter of intent to combine the two nonprofit systems, which together operate 76 hospitals and outpatient and long-term-care services across 26 states, executives of the two systems said. (Evans, 6/28)

UnityPoint Health, one of Iowa's main hospital and clinic systems, is discussing a merger with Sanford Health, a larger system based in South Dakota. UnityPoint Health, based in Des Moines, includes 32 hospitals and 280 clinics in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois. Its flagship hospital, Iowa Methodist Medical Center, is in Des Moines. Sanford Health, based in Sioux Falls, includes 44 hospitals, 482 clinics and more than 200 senior care centers in nine countries and 26 states. (Leys, 6/27)

Providence St. Joseph Health will acquire Bluetree, a consulting firm that specializes in managing Epic electronic health record systems, the Renton, Wash.-based integrated health system announced Thursday. Bluetree has built a client base of more than 140 U.S. hospitals since it was founded in 2012 by former Epic System Corp. executives. The acquisition of Bluetree, which will operate under not-for-profit Providence St. Joseph as an independent for-profit subsidiary, is part the health system's pursuit of diversified revenue streams that will support patient care, executives said. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. (Kacik, 6/27)

NorthShore University HealthSystem has agreed to acquire Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago and its related entities, as cost pressures and shifting models of delivering care have made it nearly impossible for the North Side community health network to stay independent. Swedish Covenant had been in talks with at least six potential buyers since last year, CEO Anthony Guaccio said. Meanwhile, Evanston, Ill.-based NorthShore has looked for opportunities to expand and complement its four-hospital network since plans to merge with Advocate Health Care fell through in 2017, CEO J.P. Gallagher said. (Goldberg, 6/27)

Children’s heart surgery departments across Florida will soon be subject to more oversight. Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill late Tuesday that will let physician experts visit struggling programs and make recommendations for improvement. Lawmakers proposed the measure after the Tampa Bay Times reported the mortality rate for pediatric heart surgery patients at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg reached nearly 10 percent in 2017. The rate was the highest any Florida hospital had seen in a decade. (McGrory and Bedi, 6/26)

Ben Taub Hospital violated key federal patient care and safety requirements in a case that culminated in death, according to a new report, the third such event in recent months to result in the sanctioning of a Texas Medical Center hospital. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services notified the Harris Health System of the deficiencies and moved to place it under state and federal authority in a letter and report the system received Wednesday. The action applies to all components of Harris Health, the public safety-net hospital network that operates Ben Taub. (Ackerman, 6/27)