Sanford Health and North Memorial Health today announced the organizations have finalized their partnership and are now one nonprofit integrated health system operating as Sanford Health. The combined organization will preserve Robbinsdale Hospital and its essential role as a Level I Trauma Center while making significant investments that improve care, expand access and build a stronger rural-urban network across Minnesota.
“Healthcare is changing rapidly and meeting the needs of Minnesota’s communities will require us to think differently about how we deliver care and work together,” said Bill Gassen, president and chief executive officer of Sanford Health. “That’s what this partnership makes possible. By bringing together North Memorial Health’s deep roots in the communities it serves with Sanford Health’s capabilities as an integrated health system, we’ll strengthen and modernize Robbinsdale Hospital while building a more connected healthcare system that better serves patients across rural and urban Minnesota.”
“North Memorial Health has always been focused on providing exceptional care for the patients and communities who count on us,” said Trevor Sawallish, chief executive officer of North Memorial Health. “Today marks the beginning of our next chapter. Our focus is on turning commitments into action — protecting the care our communities rely on, supporting the people who deliver it every day and making meaningful investments that will allow us to serve Minnesotans for generations to come.”
The partnership creates a first-of-its-kind, fully integrated health system in Minnesota, bringing together two nonprofit organizations with a shared commitment to locally driven care and a significant presence across rural and urban communities. The combined organization will deliver long-term investments and solutions that reflect the different needs of communities across the state. At a time when providers are navigating workforce shortages, reimbursement pressures and increasing demand for care, the combined system creates new opportunities to collaborate across rural and urban Minnesota while helping keep care as close to home as possible.
“While every community across Minnesota is different, our approach has always been the same: partner with local leaders, understand what each community needs and make the investments necessary to strengthen care,” Gassen said. “North Memorial Health brings exceptional expertise in trauma care, emergency medicine and specialty services, while Sanford Health has decades of experience expanding access through primary care, virtual care and integrated behavioral health. By bringing our clinicians together and sharing expertise, we’ll advance new models of care that neither organization could achieve alone.”
Photo by Lonnie Nichols, Sanford Health
As rural communities face growing challenges accessing emergency and specialty care, the partnership will create a more resilient emergency response network by combining North Memorial Health’s nationally recognized expertise in trauma and emergency ground and air medical transportation with Sanford Health’s extensive rural footprint and AirMed program. Together, the organizations will help connect patients across Minnesota to lifesaving care when and where they need it most.
“Our organizations share a deep commitment to serving patients, supporting our people and strengthening the health of the communities we call home,” Sawallish said. “I’m confident we’ll build on those shared values while creating an even stronger future for our employees, our patients and the communities we serve.”
Following a comprehensive regulatory review led by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, Sanford Health formalized commitments that reflect the needs and priorities of patients, employees and communities, while supporting long-term investment across Minnesota. Those commitments include:
- Maintaining core services at Robbinsdale Hospital for 10 years to preserve its critical role as a Level I Trauma Center and safety-net hospital, including emergency, cardiac and catheterization lab, labor and delivery, intensive care, stroke, acute rehabilitation and mental health services.
- Investing approximately $100 million to strengthen and modernize Robbinsdale Hospital, addressing deferred maintenance needs and facility and equipment upgrades while making the ongoing investments needed to sustain operations and preserve essential services for the long term.
- Expanding mental health services statewide, including embedding behavioral health therapists in North Memorial Health primary care clinics across the Minneapolis metro area, building on Sanford Health’s established model of making care easier to access in settings patients know and trust.
- Investing approximately $500 million to expand Maple Grove Hospital, to meet increasing demand in one of the Twin Cities’ fastest-growing regions by expanding emergency, inpatient, surgical and specialty care capacity while supporting continued growth at Minnesota’s largest birth center.
- Building Minnesota’s future healthcare workforce by investing in graduate medical education and training programs, including the trauma residency program and strengthening existing collaborations with Minnesota healthcare providers.
- Maintaining and strengthening community benefit and financial assistance programs to help ensure patients can access medically necessary care regardless of their ability to pay, including proactively identifying patients who may qualify for financial assistance and connecting them with available coverage and support.
North Memorial Health now joins Sanford Health as the anchor of a new Twin Cities care delivery region, led by CEO Trevor Sawallish and his leadership team with oversight from a local board of directors, consistent with Sanford Health’s regional governance model. Sanford Health President and CEO Bill Gassen will continue to serve as president and chief executive officer of the combined organization, alongside the current executive team.
The combined organization includes 61,000 employees and serves approximately 2.5 million patients and nearly 415,000 health plan members across the upper Midwest, with a network of 60 hospitals including three Level 1 trauma centers, 310 clinic locations, 60 pharmacy and retail chain locations, 145 senior care communities, 4,950 physicians and advanced practice providers and 1,100 active clinical trials and studies.
Two North Memorial Heath board members will transition to serve on the Sanford Health Board of Trustees, the governing body of the combined system. They include Charlie Weaver, a seasoned executive, attorney and public policy leader who served for 20 years as executive director of the Minnesota Business Partnership, and Ramon Pastrano, Doctor of Ministry, an organizational leadership consultant, entrepreneur and U.S. Navy veteran with more than 30 years of experience spanning the healthcare, pharmaceutical and nonprofit sectors.
An integration process is underway to create a unified organization. Patients will continue to receive care from the same trusted providers at the same locations, with no immediate changes. Moving forward as one organization will create new opportunities to invest in care, expand access and strengthen services for patients and communities across the Twin Cities and Minnesota.
Learn more
- Sanford Health reinvests $1 billion to expand access to care
- Behavioral health support in primary care clinics
- How Sanford Health is growing the MN healthcare workforce
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Posted In Company News, Leadership in Healthcare, News, Thought Leadership
