Minnesota health systems HealthPartners, Essentia Health announce plan to merge
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Another proposed health system merger is poised to further reshape Minnesota’s healthcare industry.
Bloomington-based HealthPartners and Duluth-based Essentia Health announced Tuesday that their respective boards of directors have approved a merger plan.
If approved by regulators, the merger of the two nonprofit health systems is set to be complete by the start of next year. The new organization would take the HealthPartners name and have about 45,000 employees staffing dozens of hospitals and clinics across Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota. It would be one of the largest healthcare systems in the region.
“This combination is about doing more for the people and communities who count on us,” HealthPartners President and CEO Andrea Walsh said in a statement announcing the merger.
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“HealthPartners and Essentia Health share a belief that everyone deserves access to high-quality care and coverage, close to home and centered on their needs,” Walsh said. “Together, we can build on the strengths of both organizations to improve health, expand access and create a stronger future for the communities we serve.”
Essentia Health CEO Dr. David Herman said the two organizations “share similar missions and values, deep roots in this region, and a focus on improving health and well-being.”
“As a combined nonprofit health system, we will be able to better innovate and grow our workforce. That strong foundation will make us even better partners for our patients, working together to help people live their healthiest lives, wherever they call home,” Herman said in a statement.
It’s the third major proposed merger involving Minnesota health systems in 2026.
North Memorial Health and South Dakota-based Sanford Health completed a merger earlier this year.
And a proposed merger of Allina Health and California-based Sutter Health remains under review by state regulators.
HealthPartners and Essentia Health said Tuesday that they have “complementary strengths in care delivery, health plan coverage, urban and rural community health, research, medical education and innovation.”
They said the merger would give patients access to more medical expertise and specialists and give employees more career pathways within the organization.
Walsh would lead the combined organization, with Herman serving as president of combined clinical care group operations.
HealthPartners and Essentia said their patients and members should not see any changes or interruptions to health care or insurance coverage.
The Minnesota Nurses Association issued a statement saying it has “serious concerns” about the merger plan — with the union also saying its members who are employed by both health systems had no advance notice of the proposal ahead of Tuesday’s public announcement.
“Minnesota has now seen three major back-to-back healthcare consolidation announcements, and nurses are deeply concerned about what that could mean for our patients and communities,” MNA President Chris Rubesch, a registered nurse at Essentia Health, said in a statement. “Every time control over healthcare is concentrated in fewer hands, we need to understand what patients and communities stand to gain, what they could lose and who will be accountable for those outcomes.”
In a statement following Tuesday’s merger announcement, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office will gather public comments on the planned merger, as it reviews the proposal.
“Proposed healthcare consolidation requires close scrutiny,” Ellison said in a news release. “As we have done several times now, we will conduct a thorough review of this potential acquisition to ensure it complies with the law and is in the public interest.”
HealthPartners operates nine hospitals — including Regions Hospital in St. Paul — as well as dozens of clinics. It also offers health and dental insurance plans covering more than a 1.5 million people.
Essentia Health operates 14 hospitals and dozens of clinics in central and northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota.
In 2025, Essentia Health was part of a proposed health system alliance involving Fairview Health Services and the University of Minnesota — but that proposal did not move forward.
In 2022, Essentia had also explored a possible merger with Wisconsin’s Marshfield Clinic Health System but later ended those discussions. Marshfield later merged with Sanford Health.
