Datapoint: Sanford, Fairview Health Announce Merger

November 17

Sanford Health and Minneapolis-based health system Fairview Health Services this week announced their intent to combine organizations. Sanford would serve as the combined system’s parent company. But the deal could come under fire from regulators, according to a Nov. 15 article in the Star Tribune. The two systems first plotted a merger in 2013, which was struck down by Minnesota’s attorney general. Sanford has also attempted to merge with Intermountain Healthcare and UnityPoint Health in recent years. The combined system would operate more than 50 hospitals, and incorporate Sanford’s health insurance unit, Sanford Health Group. The payer currently enrolls 202,323 members throughout the upper Midwest.

Source: AIS’s Directory of Health Plans