North Memorial Health and Sanford Health sign agreement to merge
Minnesota-based North Memorial Health and South Dakota-based Sanford Health have signed a "definitive agreement" to merge into a single nonprofit health system, according to both organizations.
The two nonprofits are coming together, in part, due to rising costs, staffing difficulties and financial pressures that "can affect what services are available close to home," the nonprofits said on their website.
"By coming together as one nonprofit health care organization, with shared Midwest values and a deep commitment to the communities we serve, we will deliver more coordinated, regionally connected care – ensuring patients can access the right services, in the right place, at the right time," Bill Gassen, president and CEO of Sanford Health, said in a written statement on Friday.
North Memorial Health has two hospitals in the Twin Cities — in Maple Grove and Robbinsdale — and several clinics in the region. Over 6,500 people work for the healthcare system, officials said in a news release.
Sanford Health, headquartered in Sioux Falls, is the largest rural health system in the U.S. According to officials, the organization employs 55,000 people. It serves more than 2 million patients in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Iowa and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The nonprofit features 58 hospitals, 289 clinics and 145 senior care communities.
The combined organization will invest $600 million to "modernize and sustain" Level 1 trauma and emergency services at the Robbinsdale hospital and double the size of the medical center in Maple Grove, officials said.
Plans at North Memorial Health — Maple Grove Hospital include expanding its birth center, adding inpatient and surgical capacity and improving access to cardiology and interventional radiology "to support minimally invasive procedures," according to officials.
The combined nonprofit is also planning to expand "convenient access" to expert care, access to mental health services and access to "cutting-edge therapies and treatments," the news release said.
Service Employees International Union Healthcare Minnesota and Iowa in a written statement called the agreement "worrisome."
"Hearing news of yet another proposed healthcare merger in Minnesota is worrisome for SEIU members both as staff and patients," the statement said. "At a time when healthcare costs are skyrocketing for Minnesota families and frontline healthcare workers are getting squeezed by short staffing levels, this latest attempt at consolidation brings many concerns. It is especially concerning because previous merger attempts by Sanford Health to come into Minnesota have failed due to their values and corporate behavior. North Memorial is a community institution and it needs to prioritize healing members of our community and being an institution Minnesotans are proud to have in our state."
The union is calling on Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison to provide oversight in the agreement and "ensure the interests of Minnesota's workers and patients are protected."
The Minnesota Nurses Association shared similar concerns in its own statement.
"Those developments increase pressure on North Memorial leaders to explain how staffing, resources, and workforce protections will be protected across the system, including at North Memorial Robbinsdale Hospital," the Minnesota Nurses Association said.
The group added that nearly 600 nurses who work at the Maple Grove hospital are preparing to vote on whether to authorize a strike "amid unresolved issues at the bargaining table over a first contract" and Sanford Health nurses in Bemidji are working toward a contract of their own.
Officials said the agreement is expected to close sometime this year and is "subject to the completion of regulatory processes and other customary closing conditions."
Sanford Health and North Memorial Health will remain separate organizations until the agreement closes.