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MINNEAPOLIMEDIA NEWS | HealthPartners and Essentia Health Approve Merger Creating 22-Hospital Regional System
BLOOMINGTON, MN (September 30, 2026). HealthPartners and Essentia Health have approved an affiliation agreement that would combine two of Minnesota’s largest nonprofit health-care organizations into a regional system operating 22 hospitals and more than 135 clinics.
The organizations announced Tuesday that their boards had approved the proposed combination. The transaction remains subject to regulatory review and other customary closing requirements.
The new organization would operate under the HealthPartners name and employ approximately 45,000 people, including roughly 6,000 physicians and other clinicians.
HealthPartners President and Chief Executive Officer Andrea Walsh would lead the combined organization. Essentia Health CEO Dr. David Herman would become president of the combined clinical-care group.
Essentia hospitals and clinics would retain the Essentia Health name while the two organizations integrate their operations.
HealthPartners is based in Bloomington and operates both a health insurance business and a network of hospitals and clinics concentrated in the Twin Cities and western Wisconsin. Essentia is based in Duluth and serves communities across northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota.
The systems said the combination would expand access to specialty care, telehealth, medical education, clinical research and workforce-development programs. HealthPartners trains more than 600 residents and fellows each year, while Essentia provides approximately 500,000 hours of annual training for future health-care professionals.
The proposed transaction would continue a period of rapid consolidation within Minnesota health care. Sanford Health recently completed its combination with North Memorial Health, while other health systems face financial pressure associated with staffing expenses, reimbursement rates, technology investments and maintaining services in rural communities.
HealthPartners and Essentia said patients and insurance members should not experience an immediate interruption in care or coverage. The organizations anticipate completing the combination January 1, 2027, if regulators approve it.
The merger’s ultimate effects on employment, insurance competition, hospital investment and the availability of rural services will depend on the final agreement and any conditions imposed during regulatory review.
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