Intermountain Health and AdventHealth are pursuing a Denver-area joint venture that closely resembles the model Henry Ford Health and Ascension used to combine certain assets and facilities in Michigan under one operating system while preserving elements of both organizations.
Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth, a 57-hospital system, and Salt Lake City-based Intermountain, a 34-hospital system, signed a letter of intent to combine eight hospitals, dozens of physician practices and a network of emergency and urgent care centers across the greater Denver area.
Under the proposed arrangement, AdventHealth would lead and manage daily operations. The transaction is expected to close in early 2027, pending a definitive agreement and regulatory approvals.
The structure echoes the joint venture Detroit-based Henry Ford Health and St. Louis-based Ascension launched in September 2024. That deal brought eight of Ascension’s southeast Michigan hospital campuses and related care sites under the Henry Ford Health brand and operating structure. All five of Henry Ford Health’s acute care hospitals and other care facilities and assets — including Health Alliance Plan — are included in the partnership.
In both cases, one health system contributes a significant regional portfolio while the other takes responsibility for management, clinical integration and the broader operating platform.
Eight Colorado hospitals under one operating structure
The proposed Colorado joint venture would include five AdventHealth hospitals:
- AdventHealth Avista (Louisville)
- AdventHealth Castle Rock
- AdventHealth Littleton
- AdventHealth Parker
- AdventHealth Porter (Denver)
Intermountain would contribute three hospitals:
- Good Samaritan Hospital (Lafayette)
- Lutheran Hospital (Wheat Ridge)
- Platte Valley Hospital (Brighton)
Related physician practices, clinics and off-site emergency and urgent care centers would also be included.
“Partnering with Intermountain Health represents an opportunity to build on our shared commitment to deliver high-quality, compassionate care,” AdventHealth President and CEO David Banks said in a news release. “By bringing together the capabilities of our organizations, we can expand access, augment services, enhance clinical quality and continue improving the health and well-being of people across the greater Denver metro.”
Intermountain President and CEO Rob Allen said the organizations see an opportunity to create a more connected regional care network.
“We are excited about the prospect of a joint venture that would expand access to high-quality care and create a more connected experience for patients and care teams across the greater Denver area,” Mr. Allen said.
AdventHealth would manage the combined operation, using its care delivery platforms and whole-person care model.
A familiar division of responsibilities
The management structure is similar to the Henry Ford-Ascension Michigan joint venture.
Under that transaction, Ascension contributed hospitals and other assets across southeast Michigan, while Henry Ford Health’s leadership and brand became the foundation of the combined organization. Henry Ford President and CEO Bob Riney took responsibility for leading the joint venture, which is headquartered in Detroit.
The completed transaction created a system with about 50,000 employees and more than 550 care sites. Ascension’s participating hospitals were rebranded under Henry Ford Health, although facilities with Catholic identities retained their faith-based missions and elements of their existing names.
The Colorado proposal has not yet disclosed its future brand, governance structure or ownership percentages. It does, however, establish AdventHealth as the operating leader, much as Henry Ford Health became the lead organization in Michigan.
That model can allow health systems to combine scale and market reach without completing a conventional acquisition or full corporate merger.
The early Henry Ford results
Henry Ford Health executives pointed to early financial and operational gains from the Ascension joint venture.
The academic health system’s operating income rose to $294.2 million (3.1% margin) on revenues of $9.6 billion in 2024 from $80.5 million (1% margin) on revenues of $7.8 billion in 2023. Robin Damschroder, executive vice president, president of value-based enterprise and CFO of Henry Ford Health, attributed part of that performance to early joint venture benefits, alongside results from Henry Ford’s Health Alliance Plan and broader cost controls.
“First and foremost, we had some early wins in our joint venture with the Ascension Michigan facilities,” Ms. Damschroder said during a recent episode of the Becker’s “CFO and Revenue Cycle Podcast.” “Those benefits came early.”
One of the first gains came from moving the combined organization to a common group purchasing arrangement, which generated about $35 million in contract savings.
Henry Ford Health identified roughly $250 million in “tier-one synergies” across the combined organization. Its integration priorities include shared governance, cultural alignment, operational efficiencies and the consolidation of five EHR platforms onto Epic.
Those results illustrate the potential value for AdventHealth and Intermountain if they can align purchasing, technology, clinical operations and administrative functions across the Colorado network.
In 2025, Henry Ford Health reported $133.8 million in operating income (1% margin) on revenues of $13 billion, according to financial documents obtained by Becker’s.
Why Denver may fit the model
The proposed joint venture would give AdventHealth and Intermountain a larger, more coordinated presence in one of the country’s growing metropolitan markets.
Instead of operating separate hospital networks, the systems could plan services, capital spending, physician recruitment and ambulatory expansion across a combined regional footprint.
The arrangement could also reduce duplication while helping the organizations offer patients a broader range of services within one connected network.
For Intermountain, the deal would place its three Denver hospitals inside a larger operating structure led by a system with an established Colorado presence. AdventHealth would add three hospitals and their related physician and outpatient networks without acquiring Intermountain in its entirety.
Both systems would retain national operations outside the joint venture.
The comparison with Henry Ford and Ascension will become clearer once AdventHealth and Intermountain disclose the proposed ownership, governance, branding and financial terms. Those details will determine whether the arrangement is primarily an operating partnership or a deeper regional integration.
The strategic direction, however, is already familiar: Combine complementary regional assets, place them under one management platform and pursue scale through a joint venture rather than a traditional merger.
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