Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services Proposed Merger

Information about the Merger

On Tuesday, November 16, 2022, Sanford Health and Fairview Health Services announced that they intend to merge in 2023. The new entity would be called Sanford Health and run by Sanford’s current CEO.

Sanford Health is based out of Sioux Falls, South Dakota and has 47 medical centers with approximately 45,000 employees. It has Minnesota locations in mostly rural areas of Minnesota including hospitals in Bagley, Bemidji, Canby, Jackson, Luverne, Thief River Falls, Tracy, Westbrook, Wheaton and Worthington.

Fairview Health Services is based in Minneapolis and has about 31,000 employees. Fairview has 11 hospitals mostly in the Twin Cities including Masonic Children’s Hospital, Southdale in Edina, St. John’s in Maplewood, Bethesda in St. Paul, Ridges in Burnsville, Woodwinds in Woodbury, Northland in Princeton, Lakes in Wyoming, Grand Itasca in Grand Rapids, and the Range in Hibbing. Fairview owns the University of Minnesota Medical Center and has a partnership with the University of Minnesota Medical School and the University of Minnesota Physicians Group. The partnership between the U of M and Fairview ends in 2026 with an option for a 10-year extension in 2023.

Community Input Opportunities

The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is seeking community input on the proposed merger. The Minnesota Attorney General’s Office is using the information the public submits to evaluate the transaction under existing laws, as well as to determine opportunities for changes or improvement to public policy, regulation, or state or federal law. Comments or information that members of the public submit as part of this civil investigation will generally be treated as “protected nonpublic data” under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.

Individuals can complete this Community Input Form. Members of the public are encouraged to contact the Attorney General’s Office about the proposed merger through the Community Input Formor by phone at (651) 296-3353 (Metro area) or (800) 657-3787 (Greater Minnesota).

As part of the review of the transaction, the Attorney General hosted a series of community meetings to directly gather feedback. The community meetings were held January 10 in St. Paul, January 17 in Bemidji, January 25 in Worthington and January 31 in Grand Rapids. They were open to the press and the public and livestreamed on Attorney General Ellison’s Facebook Page. Recordings of the livestreams are available for viewing on Attorney General Ellison’s Facebook Page.

The Community Input Form and phone number continue to be available for members of the public to contact the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office regarding the proposed merger.