Several hospital and health system mergers and acquisitions closed as 2024 turned into 2025.
1. Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Sanford Health and Marshfield (Wis.) Clinic Health System officially merged into a nonprofit integrated system and will operate as Sanford Health. The systems signed a nonbinding agreement in early July and an affiliation to combine in late October. The merger creates a 56-hospital system with 4,500 providers, approximately 56,000 employees, two fully integrated health plans, research institutions and specialty pharmacies.
2. Peoria, Ill.-based OSF HealthCare assumed control over Dixon, Ill.-based Katherine Shaw Bethea Hospital on Jan. 1, making it the Catholic-based nonprofit health system's 17th hospital acquisition. OSF CFO Kirsten Largent told Becker's that the system's past few acquisitions have been focused on standalone facilities that have "struggled to continue to work as a standalone entity and bring them into access, leverage and all of our various specialty areas of care." The 80-bed hospital now operates as St. Katharine Medical Center and will follow the religious and ethical directives set by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
3. Mount Gilead, Ohio-based Morrow County Hospital joined Columbus, Ohio-based OhioHealth on Jan. 1. The 25-bed critical access hospital becomes OhioHealth's 16th hospital and the system's fourth addition in a two-year span.
4. Black River Falls, Wis.-based Krohn Clinic, a multispecialty group, and Black River Memorial Hospital merged on Dec. 30 to create Black River Health. The decision to combine was made in response to growing healthcare challenges with Jackson County faring worse than the average county in Wisconsin for health outcomes, according to the organizations. A key tenet of the partnership is maintaining the independence of each organization while working as a unified entity.