28 July 2023
Two health care providers serving the Lake Superior area, Essentia Health and Marshfield Clinic Health System, have agreed to merge later this year.
The Duluth-based and Marshfield, Wis.-based health care systems signed an “integration agreement,” or merger clause, to move the merger forward, the systems announced in a news release Thursday.
The two systems had previously signed a memorandum of understanding in October while they were in talks mulling the potential merger.
The new system will have 3,800 providers and 150 sites of care, 25 of which are hospitals, across Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, the news release said.
It will be led by Essentia Health CEO Dr. David Herman, who will serve as the CEO of “a new parent company,” the news release said.
“Each time I meet with our Marshfield colleagues, I am excited for our future together and what we can build and sustain to better serve our patients, communities and colleagues,” Herman said in the news release. “Times are undeniably challenging for rural health care, yet I am certain we can meet those challenges more successfully together than we can separately.”
Clinic Health System CEO Dr. Susan Turney previously said she would retire this fall. The merger is “on track” to be finalized later this year, the release said.
“While work remains to finalize our new relationship, this is another positive step in our journey to define the future of health care, and to fundamentally transform rural health care in America,” Turney said.
However, the Office of Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will first need to review the merger.
“The Attorney General’s office will review the proposed merger of Essentia and Marshfield using our existing authority under Minnesota’s nonprofit and charities laws and state and federal antitrust laws, as well as our new authority in state law to review whether the merger is in the public interest,” John Stiles, a spokesperson for the Attorney General’s office, said in an email. “The review will begin when the parties submit required documents to us, which they have not yet.”
Essentia recently completed a new $900 million St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth. The 942,000-square-foot facility is scheduled to receive its first patients Sunday.
Chris, Rubesch, first vice president of the Minnesota Nurses Association, said in a statement Thursday night that “MNA nurses’ number one priority is providing the highest quality care to our patients and communities. We will be reviewing the impact this announced merger will have on nurses, our profession, and our patients.”
“As we await further details on this planned merger, we want to make it clear that nurses, patients and our community expect the merged entities to recognize our union and our contract, and to commit to prioritizing safe patient care,” Rubesch said in his statement. “No matter the name on the building, we pledge to continue fighting for our patients at the bedside and in our community.”
Earlier this month, St. Luke’s — Duluth’s other major health care system — signed a letter of intent to merge with Wisconsin-based Aspirus Health.
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