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Sanford Health inks merger deal after failed Intermountain bid

Sanford Health inks merger deal after failed Intermountain bid

Sanford Health inks merger deal after failed Intermountain bid

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Dive Brief:

  • Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services in Minneapolis have agreed to merge, according to a statement Tuesday, creating a system with about $14 billion in annual revenue.
  • The combined entity will be named Sanford Health and current Sanford Health CEO Bill Gassen will serve as president and CEO. Fairview Health Services CEO James Hereford will serve as co-CEO for a year after the deal closes.
  • The Midwestern nonprofits said they expect the deal to close next year pending antitrust and other regulatory reviews.

Dive Insight:

South Dakota-based Sanford has nearly 50 medical centers and 220,000 health plan members. It would gain access to the metropolitan Minneapolis market if the deal closes, as Fairview has 11 hospitals in the area.

A Sanford spokesperson said the company is not concerned about antitrust review. The organizations have little geographic overlap.

The announcement comes nearly two years after Sanford and Intermountain Health called off a merger that would have created a $13 billion system. The plans were abandoned after Sanford CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft stepped down after 25 years, following a statement that he would not wear a mask after having COVID-19.

The year before, Sanford and Unity Point Health signed a letter of intent to merge, but the deal was scuttled when the Unity Point board did not embrace the proposal.

Sanford Health did complete one merger in 2019 with Sioux Falls-based Good Samaritan, which currently runs more than 200 senior care clinics under Sanford.

Another major nonprofit merger underway is the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health, which was first proposed in May. It passed a key hurdle this week through approval from a state review board that had previously rejected the deal, according to news reports.

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