It appears the big health care merger in Detroit and Southeast Michigan, announced this week, will NOT directly affect Ascension Health facilities in Southwest Michigan.
The announcement at first seemed to suggest a total Henry Ford—Ascension Health merger. However, more careful parsing of the data shows that Ascension’s facilities in Southeast Michigan will be absorbed into Henry Ford Health System. However, its Ascension-Borgess facilities in Kalamazoo, Portage and Dowagiac are not a part of the merger. They will continue as units of the nationwide Ascension Health system.
Corewell Health, which was created by the combination of Grand Rapids/St. Joseph Spectrum Health and Detroit’s Beaumont Health is an entirely separate health system, essentially a competitor of the new, expanded Henry Ford Health in the Detroit region.
Below is an initial, general story on the Ascension-Henry Ford Detroit area combination:
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Two of Michigan’s biggest health systems a re coming together.
Henry Ford Health and Ascension Michigan have agreed to enter a joint venture. They’re not calling it a merger. Rather, the organizations are bringing their assets together.
Henry Ford CEO Bob Riney commented on the moves this week.
“I’m most excited about what we will bring to our communities,” Riney said. “We are committed to population health, and this will allow us to lift communities by really understanding their needs and meeting their needs together.”
The expanded organization will be branded as Henry Ford Health and will remain headquartered in Detroit.
Leaders say they’re committed to maintaining the Catholic identity of the Ascension facilities, and conversations are ongoing on how those facilities will be branded.
