Saying that combining their capabilities and resources will create a stronger platform to address financial headwinds, Minnesota’s HealthPartners and Essentia Health announced board approval of an affiliation agreement to combine their organizations. 

Bloomington-based HealthPartners and Duluth-based Essentia said their combination would  expand access to high-quality care and coverage, strengthen specialty services, leverage technology to better serve patients and support clinicians, and help make healthcare more affordable.

HealthPartners is a nonprofit integrated health system and insurer headquartered in Bloomington, with eight hospitals and more than 90 clinics and other outpatient services. It employs about 28,000 people, including over 2,000 clinicians, and serves more than 1.4 million patients in Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Health Partners also has an insurance arm that provides coverage to roughly 1.6 million members.

Essentia Health is a nonprofit integrated health system headquartered in Duluth, serving Minnesota, western Wisconsin and North Dakota. It operates 14 hospitals, 80 clinics, as well as retail pharmacies, assisted living and independent facilities, long-term care facilities, and an ambulance service with 16,500 employees. Essentia has more than 2,500 clinicians serving about 600,000 patients.  

In 2024 Essentia Health and Wisconsin-based Marshfield Clinic Health System decided not to move forward with a proposed integration that would have formed an integrated regional health system across Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and North Dakota.

Under the new proposal, HealthPartners Chief Executive Officer Andrea Walsh would serve as CEO of the combined organization, which would operate as HealthPartners, with Essential CEO David Herman, M.D. serving as president of the Care Group. Essentia facilities would retain the Essentia Health name while operations are integrated.

The combined organization would expand investments in digital health, research, data analytics and workforce development, the health systems said. 

Attorney General Keith Ellison will review the proposed transaction under the state’s health care transaction law (Minn. Stat. sec. 145D.01), charities law, and antitrust law, to determine compliance, including whether the transaction is in the public interest. Under Minnesota law, the Attorney General, in consultation with the Department of Health, evaluates a healthcare transaction’s impact on patients and the health care workforce, including how the transaction may affect health care options, access, affordability.

“Proposed healthcare consolidation requires close scrutiny,” said Ellison in a statement. “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. As long as I am Attorney General, I will use every tool at my disposal to both protect and improve Minnesotans’ access to high-quality, affordable healthcare.”

"This combination is about doing more for the people and communities who count on us," said HealthPartners President and CEO Andrea Walsh, in a statement. "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. 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."

HealthPartners said the organizations have complementary strengths in care delivery, health plan coverage, urban and rural community health, research, medical education and innovation. It added that combining the strengths of each organization, the nonprofit health system will expand access to high-quality care across urban and rural communities. The combined organization will include 22 hospitals, more than 135 clinics and 6,000 clinicians, creating one of the region's largest nonprofit health systems and extending access to high-quality care across Minnesota and the upper Midwest.