W. Wells Beckett, III

Overview

W. Wells Beckett, III (Wells) represents healthcare organizations and investors in complex corporate and transactional matters. He has guided clients nationwide through some of the health industry’s most significant and transformative transactions, including multistate mergers and acquisitions, national joint ventures, and strategic divestitures worth billions of dollars, collectively.

Wells counsels a broad range of organizations throughout the healthcare ecosystem, including health systems, healthcare technology companies, academic medical centers, nonprofit hospitals, physician practice management companies, and providers across the acute and post-acute care spectrum, such as surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities, behavioral health, inpatient rehabilitation, telehealth, urgent care, home health, and hospice.

With his deep understanding of the regulatory, compliance, and operational challenges facing health industry players, Wells is a strategic advisor to both new health industry entrants and traditional healthcare companies navigating the evolving and highly regulated industry. He advises many clients on their comprehensive M&A strategy, including both add-on deals and multibillion-dollar transactions.

Results

Represented Lehigh Valley Health Network in its merger with Jefferson Health, which created a new $15 billion health system serving Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The combined entity will have a robust network of hospitals, outpatient facilities, and specialized care centers, ensuring that patients receive top-tier medical care close to home. The combined health system will rank among the 15 largest nonprofit hospital groups in the United States by revenue.*
Advised Butler Health System (and its affiliates) in a transaction with Excela Health, pursuant to which the two organizations were combined into a single integrated healthcare system under the common control of a new parent organization.*
Represented Lifepoint Health, a leading healthcare provider serving patients, clinicians, communities, and partner organizations across the healthcare continuum, in the formation of a joint venture with Ascension Saint Thomas to expand access to high-quality care and services in Northern Middle Tennessee. As part of the joint venture, the organizations will jointly own Highpoint Health System, a regional health system owned by Lifepoint Health that includes Sumner Regional Medical Center and Sumner Station in Gallatin, Tennessee; Trousdale Medical Center in Hartsville, Tennessee; Riverview Regional Medical Center in Carthage, Tennessee; and more than 15 affiliated clinics and sites of care.*
Represented Mississippi Baptist Health Systems in its merger with Baptist Memorial Health Care, resulting in a combined system of 21 hospitals with $2.5 billion in revenue, the largest not-for-profit healthcare system in the region.*
Represented Lifepoint Health in the sale of its majority interest in The Regional Health Network of Kentucky and Southern Indiana, which is composed of two Indiana hospitals (Clark Memorial Health in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and Memorial Health in Scottsburg, Indiana) and numerous ancillary facilities and physician practices.*
Represented Lifepoint Health in its acquisition by a large alternative asset management company by providing transaction, healthcare regulatory, tax, employee benefits, and real estate advice to the company. The company subsequently merged Lifepoint with RCCH HealthCare Partners, a 16-hospital system. The combined company now operates under the name Lifepoint Health. At the time of the closing, the combined hospital system operated 84 hospitals in largely rural areas across 30 states, with a portfolio including physician practices and outpatient clinics and pro forma 2017 revenues of more than $8 billion.*
Represented Lifepoint Health in its divestiture of Teche Regional Medical Center in Louisiana.*
Represented Lifepoint Health in its sale of a 138-bed acute care hospital in Conyers, Georgia, to Piedmont Healthcare, an Atlanta-based healthcare delivery system.*
Represented Lifepoint Health in the creation of a joint venture with LHC Group, whereby all of Lifepoint Health’s and certain of LHC’s home health and hospice assets were contributed to the newly formed joint venture that included 40 home health agencies and hospices in total.*
Represented Lifepoint Health in the add-on of multiple home health agencies and hospices to its joint venture with LHC Group.*
Represented Pennsylvania-based Ellwood City Hospital in its acquisition by Florida-based Americore Health LLC, which included the hospital’s conversion from a nonprofit to for-profit hospital.*
Represented Lifepoint Health in its joint venture with Emory Healthcare. The joint venture was formed to enhance access to and delivery of high-quality, cost-effective care; improve the health of residents in Columbus, Georgia, and surrounding communities; and strengthen the regional benefits of Emory’s healthcare expertise close to home. St. Francis Hospital in Columbus, Georgia, was the initial facility owned by the joint venture.*
Represented Lifepoint Health in its acquisition of St. Francis Hospital, a 376-bed acute care hospital in Columbus, Georgia.*
Represented Duke LifePoint Healthcare in its $500 million acquisition of Conemaugh Health System, West Central Pennsylvania’s largest health system, including three hospitals, outpatient facilities, and physician practices. The transaction required the review and approval of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the Orphans Court of Cambria County, including hearings before the Judge of Cambria County, the transfer of approximately 80 properties and 150 licenses and permits, and defeasance of 10 series of Hospital Revenue Bonds.*
Represented Kindred in its acquisition of Senior Home Care, one of the largest and the premier home health provider in Florida and Louisiana with 47 locations, for a purchase price of $95 million. This transaction was one of the top five largest acquisitions in the home health space at the time of closing.*
Represented a national health system in multiple in-market acquisitions and divestitures, including home health, hospice, pharmacy, urgent care, cancer centers, and sleep centers.*
Represented a private equity-sponsored urgent care company in its acquisition of seven urgent care clinics in South Carolina.*
Represented Forward Health Ventures in its investment in Specialist Telemed.*
Represented Nira Medical in its investment in Central Texas Neurology Associates.*
Represented a multistate podiatry practice with locations across Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina in the formation of a physician-owned management services organization.*
Represented a national manager of ambulatory surgery centers in its investment in an Oregon-based multi-use surgery center specializing in ear, nose, and throat and facial plastic surgery.*
Represented a national health system in a joint venture with a regional health system for the de novo development of a mental health and wellness hospital.*