Community Health Systems agreed this week to buy Health Management Associates for an estimated $3.6 billion in cash and stock, the New York Times reported. The deal calls for Community Health to pay $10.50 a share in cash and 0.06942 of a share for each share of the for-profit hospital system. According to the New York Times, the takeover bid is valued at $13.78 a share, based on Monday's closing stock prices. The article said including the assumption of debt, the merger is valued at about $7.6 billion. Article